Punjab ready to stick it out for hockey once more

Prabhjot Singh

Tribune News Service

Dotting the state with new synthetic surfaces, both full-size as well as six-a-side, coupled with an extensive training-cum-competition programme appear to be salient features of an ambitious plan to revive hockey in Punjab that was once acknowledged as the major nursery of the sport.

Though Punjab is still the home of many of top hockey outfits of the country, including Punjab and Sind Bank, Namdharis, Punjab Police and Border Security Force, yet the base of the sport has shrunk considerably over the past few decades.

A concerted plan has been put in place to revive hockey in the State. The Union Ministry of Sports and the Punjab Government have pooled resources to lay latest synthetic surfaces, both of full size as well as for six-a-side competitions not only in major cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala but also in smaller towns like Doraha, Batala, Khadoor Sahib, Jharkhar, Kukar Pind, Sansarpur and Gidderbaha.

A major problem coming in the way has been of financial support to the players and coaches. Hockey of late has become an elite sport and only developed or affluent nations have been enjoying complete dominance. Trainees not only need good financial support but also deserve a comprehensive healthcare plan as modern day hockey on synthetic surface is not free from serious injury risks. Besides, it also mandates good diet to last a full game of strenuous hockey.

Hockey Academies, both sponsored by the Sports Department as well private organizations, schools and rural youth and sports clubs, have come up and started showing results.

To ascertain how serious are efforts, The Tribune undertook an extensive survey of goings on in these hockey centres and academies. Here are some of our findings :

In Ludhiana, more than one dozen hockey centres, including those of the Sports Department, besides academies are functional for talented boys both in under-14 and under-17 categories.

Sports Wing at Malwa School , Mata Sahib Kaur Academy at Jarkhar, Namdhari Academy at Bhaini Sahib and Guru Hargobind Khalsa College at Gurusar Sudhar have regular trainees. Both Bhaini Sahib and Gurusar Sudhar have synthetic surfaces A six-a-side Astroturf track is coming up at Mehta Gurukul Hockey Academy, Doraha.

The synthetic surface at Prithipal Singh Memorial Stadium at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, needs to be replaced. More than a decade old, this worn out surface poses grave danger to the trainees.

“Further, boys are from the low and middle class families that cannot afford to sponsor them. For results, we should ensure trainees appropriate and balanced food by enhancing their diet money besides extending to them complete medical care,” said a coach. To compete with Europeans, say coaches, we need more training sessions with them, both at home and abroad.

Shivalik School Hockey Training Academy has been one of few centres in private domain to be supported by sports-minded management. It has 32 players in the under-14 and under-15 categories. But the infrastructure is certainly an issue that needs the attention of the authorities. So far the trainees have been have to play on natural grass. Only three days a week, they are taken to the Sector 42 hockey stadium in Chandigarh for training on Astroturf.

“We have requested the sports department for graphite hockey sticks. We also need hockey balls used exclusively on synthetic surfaces,” says Gurdeep Singh, the coach of the newly opened training Centre that needs three more coaches besides a physical fitness trainer.

The Shivalik School is also planning to lay an Astroturf. DS Bedi, Director of the School, appreciates the initiative of the government. “We have produced 19 international hockey players besides the under-14 Punjab champion team. Without practice, skills cannot be developed ”, he says adding that the school also ensures that players complete their education so that they face no difficulty in getting jobs.

Since Mohali has become a district only a couple of years ago, the sports infrastructure is still to be in place, says Manohar Singh, District Sports Officer. With Olympian Pargat Singh as Director Sports, efforts are being made to put the game in place. There is a plan to set up a Hockey Stadium opposite the PCA stadium in Phase IX.

After years of being in the wilderness, hockey has started looking up in the border belt of Majha. The Cheema Hockey Academy is located in a non-descript place on the Batala-Qadian road, just 2 km from Olympian Surjit Singh Randhawa chowk. Says Sukhdev Singh Dhaliwal, Principal of the school that runs the Academy, “ hockey belongs to Punjab. Now the game is back and is bouncing. In February this year when the Punjab Sports department held trials at Burlton Park, Jalandhar, more than 1200 boys turned up. The government is now placing infrastructure in pockets where there is talent, where the game has the potential to flourish.”

The academy has more than 125 students on its rolls and has a six-a-side Astroturf where trainees polish their skills under coaches Ranjit Singh Cheema and Tejbir Singh. Its under-14 team has been regularly taking part in the prestigious K.D Singh Babu hockey tournament played at Lucknow and for the past 4 years the team has been attaining second position.”

Observes Dhaliwal, “We need more people like Punjab Director (Sports) Pargat Singh and assistant coach of the Indian team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Sukhvir Singh Grewal who have been working over time to restore the old glory. Says a former Olympian, “its good to run such academies in the state. But it would be better to have tie ups with foreign club sides so that players from rural Punjab can travel to these countries to hone their skills. Moreover, we need more Astroturf in the region.

With inputs from Anil Dutt, Rajmeet Singh and Ravi Dhaliwal.