Jalandhar, June 23, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
Surjit Hockey Academy today celebrated International Olympic Day, here at local Surjit Hockey Stadium, Bultron Park.
Surjit Hockey Academy, run by the country’s renowned Surjit Hockey Society, kicked off the International Olympic Day today with a cake cut by all the players and office-bearers.
Dronacharya Awardee & Olympian Rajinder Singh (Junior), recently appointed Chief Hockey Coach by Punjab Government, who was the chief guest, while addressing the players, congratulated all the players on International Olympic Day.
Expressing concern over the falling of the standard of women’s hockey in Punjab, he said that the department of sports, Punjab would soon take up the sport of hockey in Punjab at the grass-root level with a view to the Olympics-2008 with full planning at the grass-root level in Punjab so that more and more Punjabi players can take their place in the Indian hockey team.
He also wished the men’s and women’s hockey teams participating in the Olympic Games starting in Japan next month to win a gold medal.
Harjot Kaur of Surjit Hockey Academy also read a paper on International Olympic Day on the occasion. Earlier, the players also paid tributes to the late Milkha Singh and his wife Nirmal Milkha Singh.
Speaking on the occasion, Surjit Hockey Society General Secretary Iqbal Singh Sandhu said that the Punjab who remained leading the country in the field of hockey but the selection of only wen player Gurjit Kaur in Indian Women team for Olympics-2021 is a testament to the sharp decline in the level of women’s hockey in Punjab whereas as many as 9 players are in Olympic hockey squad from neighboring Haryana state.
Revealing the decline in the field of girls hockey in Punjab, Sandhu said that Government Senior (Girls ) Secondary School, Nehru Garden, Jalandhar had been running the country’s leading girls hockey training center for almost 40 consecutive years and Olympian & International players like Nisha Sharma, Harpreet Kaur, Ajinder Kaur, Rajni Sharma, Surjit Bajwa, Sharanjit Kaur, Rajbir Kaur are the product of this hockey center.
Apart from producing Olympians, international and national athletes, Punjab had the honor of winning the highest number of national championships till 2016 but this excellent hockey center permanently closed in the year 2016.
Sandhu demanded from Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurjit Singh Sodhi that with the construction of a new hockey stadium, the Bultron Park, Jalandhar is now going to be the hub of sports, especially in the game of hockey in Punjab and just as the boy’s hockey academy in is running successfully, in the same vein, a girls’ hockey academy should be started in Jalandhar without any further delay.
He also demanded that an experienced female hockey coach should be appointed in this girls hockey academy to impart hockey training who cpuld better understand the difficulties of the women players.
On this occasion Councilor Bunty Neelkanth, Chief of Surjit Hockey Society P. R. . Surinder Singh Bhapa, Joint Secretary Ranbir Singh Rana Tutt, Gurwinder Singh Gullu, Coach Davinder Singh, Yadvinder Singh Johnny, Rajinder Kumar Sharma, Avtar Singh Pinka, and Shivinder Singh Aujla, Gaurav Mahajan and Gaurav Aggarwal were present.
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