Skill, talent, sports and players, these are the words from which inspiration is born, and then inspiration gives birth to new young talents and players. Riding on struggles, when the distance of success is covered, then history is written. One such history is that of Jalandhar, a city in Punjab, which has so far produced the most number of Olympic players in the country. Many big hockey players of the country grew up in the soil of two villages here, Sansarpur and Mitthapur.
Eight players from Surjeet Hockey Academy in Mitthapur are playing in this year’s Tokyo Olympics 2021. Three of these players are residents of Mithapur. Apart from Manpreet, who captains the hockey team, hockey players Mandeep Singh and Varun are also residents of this village.
Manpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Hardik Singh, Simranjit Singh, Varun Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh and Dilpreet Singh, who played in the Indian hockey team, all these 8 players Surjeet Hockey Academy He has nurtured. At the same time, Gurjit Kaur, who has performed better in women’s hockey, is also a player of this academy.
Hockey nursery, this village
Sansarpur is called ‘Hockey’s Nursery’. 14 Olympian players from this village have won 27 medals for India representing the country. Sansarpur is the only village in the world, which has given maximum number of hockey players not only to India but to the whole world. Colonel Gurmeet Singh was the first from this village, in the year 1932. Los Angeles Olympics Led the Indian team in sports. After that, the players who came out of this village continuously, started joining the Indian team. Subedar Thakur Singh was the first hockey player from Sansarpur, who went on a foreign tour on behalf of the Indian hockey team.
Inspired to play hockey from British soldiers
The people of Sansarpur, adjacent to the cantonment region, got the inspiration to play hockey from the British soldiers. After this, Ajit Pal Singh, a resident of this village took the Indian hockey team to new heights. Under the captaincy of Ajit Pal Singh, India won the Hockey World Cup for the first time in the year 1975. Another member of that team, Varinder Singh, was also born in the same village.
Many players of Sansarpur have also played for other countries. Olympians Col Gurmeet Singh (First Sikh in the World Gold Medalist), Udham Singh, Gurdev Singh, Darshan Singh, Col Balbir Singh, Balbir Singh, Jagjit Singh, Ajit Paul Singh, Gurjit Singh Kular, Tarsem Singh, Hardayal Singh, Hardev Singh, Jagjit Singh and Bindi Kular are the players who have played for Canada.
Inspiration from one village to another
There was a time when the village of Sansarpur, adjacent to the cantonment area of Jalandhar, dominated Indian hockey. This small settlement has given the country about a dozen Olympic medalists. Nearby villages also benefited greatly due to hockey culture. Before independence, the game that Sansarpur got from the British Army, gradually started being played in the surrounding areas as well. With the passage of time, the interest of the people increased and players from many villages started participating in different events to play hockey. Mitthapur was also one such village.
Mithapur came into limelight for hockey when Pargat Singh, the best hockey player of his time, went to play in the Olympics. He led the country in two consecutive Olympic Games. After this, in the 90s, Mitthapur became the village that hockey inherited from Sansarpur. Before Pargat Singh, Sarup Singh of the village participated in the Olympics in 1952 and Kulwant Singh in 1972.
Most of the players playing in the Tokyo Olympics, became more interested in the sport when Pargat Singh became the Director of Sports. He gave the children of the village a chance to play in the Punjab State League, which had 400 teams, apart from playing on the astroturf. This league also played an important role in bringing hockey to a wider level in the state.
When the dream of going abroad became bigger than the game
There came a time in the village, when the people of Sansarpur started competing to go abroad. At that time, for the people here, nothing was more important than the dream of going abroad. The same thing happened with Mitthapur. In that almost merged village in Jalandhar, only concrete forests remained. In the village with large houses and havelis, buildings remained, but half of them were empty. Because, their owners went abroad and settled. These huge empty houses continued to inspire generations to move abroad for a better life.
Changing mindset of youth
Over the years, Mitthapur has handled the legacy of Sansarpur very well. Also in Sansarpur, hockey is starting to re-emerge. Once again the interest in playing hockey has increased among the youth. Now the youth here dream of wearing the national jersey more than of going abroad. Perhaps the result of this dream is the spectacular performance of the Indian hockey team in the Tokyo Olympics and after 41 years, got a bronze medal.
Punjab’s chief hockey coach Rajinder Singh (Dronacharya Award) Jr. said in an interview, “Due to the better performance of men’s and women’s hockey, the spirit of hockey players in Jalandhar has increased even more to do something for their country. Their seniors are making India proud in Tokyo and in times to come, these players will also play for India.”
The Better India Wishing all these players to become more successful and scale new heights.
Also read: Tokyo Olympics: The story of javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, on whom the eyes of the countrymen are fixed
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