Sports in India is yet not professional enough to offer a career. Key to sporting success has been inevitably linked to institutions providing support in terms of jobs. Uncertain times like these make the support even more crucial when forces beyond human control have caused a global shut-down of all sporting activity.
And it's nothing new. One of the reasons Punjab emerged as the cradle of Indian hockey is the support that it got from its institutions like police, electricity board and the like. Hark back to 1946 when then Inspector General (equivalent of current Director General) of Punjab Police, Sir John Bennett, had a young Balbir Singh, a promising talent from Lahore's Sikh National College, "arrested" from Delhi and "coerced" into accepting the offer of a post of Assistant Sub-Inspector.
Rest as they say is history!
Balbir Sr., who bade adieu to the world on May 25, 2020, at the age of 96, went on to win three Olympic gold medals (1948 London, 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne) is stuff of legends. Five goals in the 6-1 win over the Netherlands in the Helsinki gold medal clash is a record that still stands.
But more importantly, partition saw Balbir move to Ludhiana where he started work as a Punjab Police inspector.
Through the years, Punjab Police has been headed by several hockey loving officers ... Ashwini Kumar, Inder Mohan Mahajan, Kanwar Pal Singh Gill to name a few. The three went on to head the Indian Hockey Federation should hardly be a surprise.
Punjab Police has been at the forefront of Indian hockey. Late Surjit Singh to Pargat Singh to Jugraj Singh have all marshaled the Indian defence and were connected with Punjab Police at one time or another. A list of hockey Olympians from Punjab Police could veritably read like a who's who of the game!
Its almost a given that the best players in the state would join the police force, even though para-military forces did offer options. Little wonder that at least 10 players, including skipper Ajitpal Singh, of the 1975 World Cup winning squad were from Border Security Force, Jalandhar.
Of late, priorities have changed as police duties get tougher in modern times. But hockey in Punjab still has a close relationship with the police force. Hopefully the police force will once again be at the forefront of the search to regain the lost glory!
The uniform seems to do the trick!
And it's nothing new. One of the reasons Punjab emerged as the cradle of Indian hockey is the support that it got from its institutions like police, electricity board and the like. Hark back to 1946 when then Inspector General (equivalent of current Director General) of Punjab Police, Sir John Bennett, had a young Balbir Singh, a promising talent from Lahore's Sikh National College, "arrested" from Delhi and "coerced" into accepting the offer of a post of Assistant Sub-Inspector.
Rest as they say is history!
Balbir Sr., who bade adieu to the world on May 25, 2020, at the age of 96, went on to win three Olympic gold medals (1948 London, 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne) is stuff of legends. Five goals in the 6-1 win over the Netherlands in the Helsinki gold medal clash is a record that still stands.
But more importantly, partition saw Balbir move to Ludhiana where he started work as a Punjab Police inspector.
Through the years, Punjab Police has been headed by several hockey loving officers ... Ashwini Kumar, Inder Mohan Mahajan, Kanwar Pal Singh Gill to name a few. The three went on to head the Indian Hockey Federation should hardly be a surprise.
Punjab Police has been at the forefront of Indian hockey. Late Surjit Singh to Pargat Singh to Jugraj Singh have all marshaled the Indian defence and were connected with Punjab Police at one time or another. A list of hockey Olympians from Punjab Police could veritably read like a who's who of the game!
Its almost a given that the best players in the state would join the police force, even though para-military forces did offer options. Little wonder that at least 10 players, including skipper Ajitpal Singh, of the 1975 World Cup winning squad were from Border Security Force, Jalandhar.
Of late, priorities have changed as police duties get tougher in modern times. But hockey in Punjab still has a close relationship with the police force. Hopefully the police force will once again be at the forefront of the search to regain the lost glory!
The uniform seems to do the trick!
No comments:
Post a Comment