PUNJAB’S GOLD-MEDAL FACTORY

GREAT KHALI, who was posted as an ASI with the Punjab Police before leaving the country to participate in the WWE, during his recent visit to the headquarters of Punjab Armed Police in Jalandhar proudly remarked: “I wish to don the cap of a Punjab Policeman till my last breath. Punjab Police have contributed a lot in my career and life as well. I will not resign from the job, unless being thrown out by the state force. I will come back and join the duty soon.” A large number of players from Punjab Police, who have represented the country , share the same feeling for this organisation.

The first thing one sees on entering the Punjab Armed Police headquarters is a gallery hung with portraits of great sportsmen that the PAP has nurtured. These pictures inspire both budding police players and visitors. Indeed, the Punjab Armed Police has developed as a nursery for top-class sportsmen — not only in the state but for all of India. This organisation has also sent a large number of outstanding sportsmen to para-military formations created after the expansion of national police force.

Its players have made their mark at national and international level, be it Great Khali, Kartar Singh or Pargat Singh. The list is long. As many as nine players, awarded with Padma Shri has been associated with the Punjab Police during their playing careers. No other organisation in the state has such a sporting record. The count for Arjuna awardees from this organisation is 33, while two of the recipients of the prestigious Dhyan Chand Award belonged to Punjab Police. The count of players that had represented India in the different events of Olympics from Punjab Police is 48.

The Punjab Police sportsmen have been in the forefront for more than 75 years. Before Partition, Punjab Police’s contribution to hockey , athletics, gymnastics and boxing was unique. After Partition, the onus of producing top players fell entirely on the Punjab Police. In the Olympics games of 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968, majority of the players, who represented the state, were from the Punjab Police.

Jalandhar’s PAP Headquarters provides facilities for many sports disciplines: athletics, basketball, football, body building, gymnastics, hockey , shooting, boxing, kabaddi, handball, handball, judo, wrestling, swimming, volleyball, gymnastic, netball.

(For cycling, policemen and women have their training centre at Patiala, weight-lifting is centred at Phagwara and rowing is at Chandigarh.) Trained coaches have been arranged for the training of the players in every game by the PAP authorities.

In addition, PAP players participate in mountaineering and car racing.

The players owed their success to the environment and discipline prevalent in the campus that helped to bring a successful player out of them.

Superintendent of Police and Arjuna awardee for football Gurdev Singh quizzes: “Which game in Punjab other than football is not dominated by the Punjab Police? You tell me. It is the football only where JCT dominates. Punjab Police representatives also chair the associations of nearly all games.” He recalls how the former chief of Punjab Police, Bhagwan Singh Danewalia, spotted him in 1974 when he was playing for Punjab. “My team had just beaten Bengal by 6-0. Danewalia Sahib was impressed and singled me out. It was thanks to his continued interest that I came to international standard. At the same time, I would have to say that, starting from Ashwani Kumar, all other DGPs too had been sincere towards promoting sports during their tenure heading the Punjab Police.” Director Sports Punjab, Padma Shri and Arjuna awardee Pargat Singh, who had represented India in three Olympics, points out: “The one reason why the Punjab Police has achieved this place in sports is its effective recruitment policy for the sportsmen. No other department strictly follows the reservation policy of 3 per cent as per rules. Punjab Police has the teams in almost every game. Other departments have failed to create teams with the result that the talent of players was wasted.” The Arjuna awardee (volleyball) and SP , Sukhpal Singh, recalled, “My success is due to discipline only . The police means discipline — disciplined in everything, be it training, practice or games. I can say by sure that no other organisation in the country must be having such an effective system of training as the Punjab Police has.” From this organisation, Udham Singh had represented country in the game of hockey in four Olympics from 1952-1964, brought three gold medals for the country and one silver medal.

The list of players of hockey who had brought laurels for the country by participating in Olympics is long. It includes Balbir Singh Senior, Tarlochan Singh, Raghbir Lal, Dharam Singh Senior, Bakhshish Singh, Pirthipal Singh, Darshan Singh, Jagjit Singh, Charanjit Singh, Balbir Singh Junior, Dharam Singh Junior, Surjit Singh, Mohinder Singh, Davinder Singh, Surinder Singh, Gurmail Singh, Pargat Singh, Charanjit Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Jagdev Singh, Harpreet Singh, Baljit Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Gaganjeet Singh.

In wrestling: Banta Singh, Kartar Singh and Palwinder Singh Cheema; in Athletics-Gulzar Singh, Ajit Singh Bhullar, Jagdev Singh, Jagmohan Singh, Bahadur Singh, Ajayraj Singh, Jagdish Bishnoi, Manjit Kaur, Harwant Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur and Sagardeep Kaur; in Gymnastic, Vir Singh and Kirpal Singh; in boxing Kaur Singh and in weight-lifting Sandeeo Kumar had represented India in Olympics. Weight lifter Vicky Batta had also brought laurels for this organisation in their respective games.

Several of its players had won the medals and po sitions in the All India Police Games.

Like many others, Padma Shri (athletics) DSP Bahadur Singh credited his success to Mahil Singh Bhullar. He says, “I joined the Punjab Police in 1990.

Rajdeep Singh Gill and M.S. Bhullar provided me the ample opportunities to groom my talent. We got every opportunity here by practising with the creamy players. The environment here helped me a lot to reach at this height.” Arjuna awardee (basketball) DSP Parminder Singh Senior recalls: “In 1989, M.S. Bhullar spotted me at Sports College, Jalandhar, and brought me to the PAP . Due to the disciplined environment over here I blossomed. In Punjab, 80 per cent of the sportsmen belong to Punjab Police. No other organisation has done so much for the sports,” he says.

Bhullar politely acknowledges, “They are all my children. It is only their hard work that has paid off.

I have done my duty by providing them opportunities.” But ADGP (PAP) and Central Sports Officer Rajan Gupta feels that Bhullar is just being modest: “It is all due to initiatives taken by former officers like Ashwani Kumar and M.S. Bhullar. They ignited such a spark among the police that nobody can ever lower its intensity . They helped to take the Punjab Police at the peak of India’s sports scene. K.P .S. Gill gave M.S. Bhullar a free hand to do whatever he thought necessary to uplift the sports status of the police. Bhullar had recruited many talented players and promoted achievers.” Many of the former players have been provided to the Punjab Sports Department as coaches. They are now serving in various colleges, schools and other sports centres of the state. SP (Training) Pawan Uppal observes: “Some of our players have been promoted from the level of Assistant Sub Inspector to officer rank in recognition of their achievement in sports. The prospect of earning such a reward is a huge motivator for sportsmen.” PAP can also boast of huge infrastructure: vast playing fields for every sport, latest equipment and modern facilities. This has helped to groom the players to high standard.

REMEMBERING KHALI The WWE champion Dalip Singh alias Khali owed his success to the then Director General of Police, Mahil Singh Bhullar, who spotted him and groomed him as a player during his visit.

“I am elated that Khali has managed to break US monopoly in WWE. Its really a big achievement for a young Indian,” Bhullar said.

“Someone told me about a tall young man from Sirmaur. I contacted officials in Himachal Pradesh to locate Dilip, who was then working as a security guard with a Delhi-based couple at their Shimla guest house for a paltry sum of Rs 1,800 per month,” Bhullar recalled.

“Dilip was afraid of joining the Punjab Police due to prevailing terrorism at that time. Khali later accepted the proposal to join after a lot of reluctance. It was repeated assurance that he would be developed as a sports person and would be strictly confined inside the high security PAP complex that actually worked. I had also inducted his brother as constable to assure him more social security,” the former DGP said.

Though he joined as a sportsperson, he had to struggle hard to choose his sport. “He failed to make a mark in basketball, as he was not much agile. He started quietly with shot put, but developed a backache, thus, again twisting my plans for him. Then, he was instructed to join bodybuilding. Rana could though boasts of strong upper portion of his body, his thigh muscles were not very strong,” said Bhullar.

Then Dilip was advised for wrestling competitions abroad by the experts. “I arranged Dilip’s training at San Francisco in USA for more than 18 months, before he transformed into great Khali to win laurels for the country,” Bhullar adds.

PADMA SHRI AWARDEES Balbir Singh Senior Hockey 1957 Charanjeet Singh Hockey 1964 Kartar Singh Dhillon Wrestling 1986-87 Pargat Singh Hockey 1996-97 Sunita Rani Athletics 2001 Bahadur Singh Athletics 2006 Pirthipal Singh Hockey 1967 (Left police in 1962) Prem Chand Dogra Body Building 1990 Kaur Singh Boxing 1983 ARJUNA AWARDEES Pirthipal Singh Hockey 1961 Nripjit Singh Bedi Volleyball 1962 Charanjit Singh Hockey 1963 Udham Singh Hockey 1965 Gurbachan S Bhangu Mountaineering 1965 Gurdev Singh Football 1978-79 Kartar Singh Dhillon Wrestling 1982 Sunita Rani Athletics 2000 Surinder Singh Sodhi Hockey 1997 Jagdish Singh Wrestling 1998 Narinder Singh Judo 1998 Baljit Singh Dhillon Hockey 1998 Surjit Singh Hockey 1999 Ramandeep Singh Hockey 1999 Balbir Singh Hockey 2000 Balwinder Singh Kabaddi 2000 Sukhpal Singh Volleyball 2000 Dalbir Singh Weightlifting 2000 Sajjan Singh Basketball 2000 Parminder Singh Senior Basketball 2002 Gaganjeet Singh Hockey 2003 Palwinder Singh Cheema Wrestling 2003 Manjit Kaur Athletics 2006 Before joining Punjab Police Kaur Singh Boxing 1982 Jaipal Singh Boxing 1986 Pargat Singh Hockey Hardeep Singh Kabaddi 1990 Jagjit Singh Rowing 2000 After leaving Punjab Police Jagjit Singh Hockey 1967 Balwant Singh Volleyball 1972 Balwinder Singh Athletics 1987 Prem Chand Degra Body Building 1990 Amar Singh Volleyball 2003