Neeraj Bagga
AMRITSAR, DECEMBER 27
District hockey players, who stole the show with their stellar performance at Tokyo Olympics, maintained the tempo this year too.
Five hockey players from the district — vice-captain Harpreet Singh of Timmowal village, Gurjant of Khaliara village, Shamsher of Attari, Dilpreet and Jugraj, both from Butala — participated in the Olympics.
Four of these players namely Shamsher, Dilpreet, Gurjant and Harmanpreet were bestowed with prestigious Arjuna Award because of their contribution in the bronze medal, which India clinched at the Olympics.
This year, these five players also figured in the silver medal winning national hockey team in the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham. Even as India had lost to Australia 0-7 in a one-sided final but they displayed a good performance.
After noticing the scintillating performance of youngsters of the border district in the national game, the AAP’s Bhagwant Singh Mann-led government sanctioned a little over Rs 7.48 crore to upgrade the hockey stadium at the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) in September.
Another encouraging point for young hockey players of the district was when the trophy of Men’s Hockey World Cup, which is scheduled to commence in Odisha from January 13, and its officials arrived here on December 14.
Not only the government and Punjab Hockey Federation but also the SGPC and hockey players on its arrival in the holy city accorded it a warm welcome.
Sneh Rana, a TTI at the Amritsar Railway station, was selected into the Indian team to play women’s cricket world cup 2022.
The captain of Punjab cricket team, Abhishek Sharma, who was placed at a base price of Rs 20 lakh, was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad at a price of Rs 6.50 crore.
The district successfully organised Kheda Watan Punjab Deyan, following the policy of catch them young. A large number of youngsters below the age of 15 took part in various sports categories.
