The team that won the Olympic bronze in Tokyo had 10 players from Punjab. Former captain Pargat Singh , who anchored the revival of India hockey at the grass-roots as state’s director sports earlier, shares with TOI how the turnaround was achieved, what Punjab means for Indian hockey, and how the country can improve her medal tally.
India was once a hockey powerhouse. Why did the medal elude us for four decades?
When hockey was played on grass, it was a game of skill and artistry. The synthetic grounds added pace to it. We did not have Astroturfs or carbon-fibre sticks to adjust to the new conditions, and around the same time, cricket picked up because of marketing at the cost of other games. Hockey lacked long-term planning.
How was the game revived in Punjab?
In 2005, I adopted a global model for enlarging the talent pool, of picking up talent for two different levels of training. I understood the financial constraints and I hired experts from different games, with standing orders to accept all their reports without hiccups. Those experts identified old or new pockets of 20 games and then we sent scouts into every district. We have more than 400 supervisors for those 20 games, and they work for passion, not money. All created an atmosphere for improvement.
Punjab has 10 players in a squad of 16. What was done for hockey, specifically?
After reviving its old pockets, we gave away sticks and other hockey equipment, involved locals, appointed coaches, and gave them a training programme. We picked up children as young as 8, 10, and 12 and put them on secondhand Astroturfs, cutting out the defective sectons. I got two dozen of those six-a-side turfs made. The cost was negligible. Talent from academies could now be trained in Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Mohali, and the government-run Surjit Academy in Jalandhar produced an assembly line of players. What started in 2005 has paid off.
How can the country get better at sport?
Replicate the Punjab model, across games. Teach physical education in playgrounds instead of classrooms. Enlarge the talent pool, develop infrastructure and training facilities, match the games budgets and sports science universities of the West. They are far ahead of us. If we have an institute of that kind, we could get foreign curriculum and experts for the first 10 years and, later, become self-sufficient. Sport is a highly competitive world. You can’t have performance without physique.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has emerged as a big benefactor of the team.
He deserves all the praise for sponsoring the squad. Odisha also organised World Cup Hockey and used its good infrastructure for the good of the Indian team.
I have been seeking big events for Punjab as well, to develop the infrastructure and the craze among our children. But we are yet to be given any big event.
Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh was trolled for applauding Punjab players in his congratulatory tweet after we defeated Britain. Your thoughts.
Punjab sends maximum players to the national team and the country’s performance is correlated with that number. We groom them for the national team. Why shouldn’t we claim credit or celebrate. If my village has given three players to this team, it has every reason to feel proud.
Both Punjabi and Indian identities can be celebrated together without feeling insecure or offended. We don’t need lectures on nationalism.
