Olympian Sikh Search
Jagmohan Singh

The Olympic mania has affected the Sikhs too. The gold to Abhinav Bindra, the presence of Sikhs in turbans from Canada and the absence of the Sikhs of the Indian hockey team has kindled interest in sports like never before. World Sikh News presents an analysis of the search of a Sikh sports identity, offering solutions to the Sikh world, particularly the Diaspora.

The Sikh community is in a desperate search for reasons to cheer and thus seeks the Sikh face –in politics, in entertainment and in sports. In the modern era, the search goes beyond the frontiers of Punjab and has a pan-Punjabi dimension.

The outward form given by the tenth Master to the Sikhs makes them conspicuous by their presence. Sikhs rightly and understandably revel in it. It is feeling shared and enjoyed by all trans-ethnic societies living in various tolerant, not so tolerant and even intolerant multi-cultural societies, but the emotions of Sikhs are there for all to see.

Like all nations, the four years apart Olympics is an opportunity for stock-taking for the Sikhs too. The Sikhs in Punjab see it in the Indian context and others see it at a global level. The Sikh Diaspora is looking for its own icons in Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, the United States and Great Britain.

Abhinav Bindra or shall we say Abhinav Singh Bindra has put sports in perspective. Though he does not have a Sikh face, his family’s pure Punjabi joi de vivre has lent a lot of joy amongst Sikhs, Punjabis and Indians of course. His father, A. S. Bindra came out clearly when he said, “Abhinav has brought laurels for the whole Sikh community and for the whole nation”

The absence of the Indian hockey team has reduced the number of Sikh Olympians at Beijing (though it must be added that over the years the Indian Hockey Federation has made a conscious attempt to reduce the number of Sikh players anyway), but that has probably been compensated by the Sikh Canadians who donned their turbans, even if only for the Olympic march past.

Apart from the famous Sikh hockey Olympians like Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Senior, the Sikh face of Milkha Singh who missed a medal in the Rome Olympics by a whisker is still one of the most popular.

With the Canadian sportspersons wearing the turban, the recognition to the turban and the ethnic identity of the Sikh people is complete. Their ethnicity is now in the recognition mode. World nations and peoples are beginning to see it as symbol of Sikh identity than Indian or Arab.

“My dad had to cut his beard and lose his turban to get a job when he came to Canada (in 1970),” said Ravi Singh Kahlon, the Canadian centre forward playing in his second Olympic Games. “Now we can choose to wear a turban or not and it doesn’t affect anybody making a living. I may add that the next generation of Sikhs, more conscious of their turban and their full identity would not make a negative choice and there may not be need for persuasion to wear the turban in the years to come.

We certainly need more Bishen Singh Bedis and Monty Panesars. Not necessarily in cricket, but in other sports too.

Some time ago, I interacted with two Sikh Burmese living in Delhi. What they said about Sikh Burmese of yore (before the military junta took over) should interest all sports lovers and also those who have the future of the Sikh youth at heart. They said that most Gurdwaras in Burma have a couple of Table Tennis tables and a football field attached to them. Sikh boys and girls play at the Gurdwara facility and join the Sangat for Rehras Sahib at dusk. This, they said it was a daily routine.

A large number of Gurmat Training Camps and Sikhi-related activities are happening all over the globe. Conscious of the need to preserve culture and maintain family bonding, parents and youth are going all out to teach Punjabi, Gurmat, the significance of the Sikh symbols and the Sikh way of life.

Perhaps a less explored area is Sikhs and Sports. The manner in which Sikh societies in Canada have rallied behind Jasveer Singh, the first British Columbian weightlifter should serve as an example for others to follow. We should also recollect that Alexi Grewal, a Sikh US immigrant won the gold medal in cycling in Los Angeles in 1984.

The Diaspora Sikhs are certainly more fortunate than those in the homeland. They have no dearth of personal and public facility to excel in sports. Perhaps there is no discrimination either. There is no scarcity of funding by the sports bodies or the Sikhs themselves for that matter. The emergence of Darsh Singh in Basketball and young Tanraj Singh in Chess are examples to be emulated. With a large and bludgeoning elderly population, we should see more Fauja Singhs creating a name for themselves, their community and respective countries, rather than whiling away their time at malls or playing cards in residential parks and becoming a nuisance to the neighbourhood, as seen in Surrey and Brampton in Canada.

The various faith runs, community marathon meets need to be converted into athletic training sessions. The Diaspora is spending huge resources in setting up University chairs and other academic activities. Likewise, on the lines of the Sikh Sports Festival of Malaysia and the Mr. Singh contest of Amritsar, the Sikh nation needs to put together a Sikh Olympic meet to nurture and foster Sikh sports talent ever four years as a precursor to the Olympic Games.

The Sansarpur village in Punjab which had a field day producing Olympians needs sowing again. To revive the martial tradition of the Sikhs –archery, equestrian events, rifle shooting, sword fencing, wrestling and the like need to become areas of focus of the Sikhs, particularly in the Diaspora. Like in their respective fields of endeavour, we need a Sansarpur in every country to make the Sikhs part of the global sports community.

The Gatka during religious meets needs to be transformed from a religious ritual to a serious sporting endeavour. Our valour on the battlefield, our stamina to withstand the enemy forces needs to be galvanised into a positive culture of sports. Training camps like those organised by the sixth master, Guru Hargobind Sahib to nurture the martial spirit should be held with sports as the focus. The Akharas and Dangals are waiting for a modern outlook and flavour.

The children of the Lord of the White Hawk and the Rider of the Blue steed need to realise their Olympian Sikh search by action and not by symbols alone.

Jagmohan Singh is a commentator based in Ludhiana. He may be contacted at jsbigideas@gmail.com