INDIA: HOCKEY - A small village in India's Punjab boasts of producing a dozen Olympic hockey champions but laments the game's demise in the country

Record ID: 379135

  • Title: INDIA: HOCKEY - A small village in India's Punjab boasts of producing a dozen Olympic hockey champions but laments the game's demise in the country
  • Date: 7th March 2008
  • Summary: SANSARPUR, PUNJAB, INDIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) SANSARPUR VILLAGE, ALSO KNOWN AS HOCKEY VILLAGE HOUSES AT SANSARPUR CHILDREN STANDING WITH HOCKEY STICKS, LISTENING TO COACH COACH DEMONSTRATING SKILLS PLAYERS HOLDING HOCKEY STICKS COACH GIVING TIPS PLAYERS LISTENING TO COACH PLAYERS PRACTICING (SOUNDBITE) (Punjabi) LAKHBIR SINGH, COACH, SAYING: "Some places are blessed, they have a special quality -- like in some soils the mangoes grow more than the others or the fruit are sweeter than they are on other soils. In the same way Sansarpur has been a fertile ground for hockey players. Everyone plays hockey here and plays good hockey." YOUNG CHILDREN WITH HOCKEY STICKS SITTING AND WATCHING PLAYERS DRIBBLING HOCKEY BALLS ON THEIR STICKS A HOCKEY PRACTICE MATCH IN PROGRESS COACH BLOWING THE WHISTLE BAGS ON HOCKEY FIELD (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) MOHIT PAUL, SON OF AN OLYMPIC HOCKEY PLAYER, SAYING: "Hockey is a nice game, all children like playing hockey here. My father is also an olympic player, his name is George Paul and I want to become an olympic player like him." BOYS PLAYING HOCKEY SIKH BOY SHOOTING BALL (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) HARDEEP SINGH, A YOUNG HOCKEY PLAYER SAYING: "I want to win a gold medal and bring laurels to my village and to my country India." STREETS OF SANSARPUR VILLAGE A ROW OF HOUSES POPINDER SINGH, A WRITER OF HOCKEY BOOKS, TALKING TO A FORMER HOCKEY PLAYER (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) POPINDER SINGH, A HOCKEY EXPERT WHO HAS WRITTEN BOOKS ON THE SPORT, SAYING: "We don't have good coaches, even in schools the interest is waning. We don't have enough astro turfs to practice and play hockey. Holland has lots of grounds with astro turf, take the example of Sansarpur -- it is the village which has produced a large number of hockey players in the world but we don't even have a single astro turf here. Children play on grass or mud, so how do you expect them to excel on the astro turf?" FEET OF PLAYERS AS THEY PRACTICE HOCKEY PLAYERS PRACTISSING
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA328JBPWDF5BB2KG8PJGIGFP05
  • Story Text: In a country starved of sporting glory, this nondescript village with its dusty fields is a stark reminder of the golden days of India's national sport-- hockey.
    The small village of Sansarpur, located on the outskirts of Punjab's sports goods city Jalandhar in India's north, has produced no less than 12 Olympians from 1932 till 2000, even though its population is less than three thousand.
    Nine of them represented India, while two played for Kenya as their families migrated. The last Olympian with roots in Sansarpur played for Canada in the 2000 Sydney Games.
    Many of the villagers recount with immense pride the tales of Sansarpur's hockey legacy -- stick-wielding boys coming out virtually from each house, unmindful of the heat and dust of an Indian summer, to bring glory to their village and the country.
    Lakhbir Singh, a former Indian player, who now coaches the youngsters in Sansarpur, said there was something special about the village soil -- proving to be a fertile breeding ground for good hockey players.

    "Some places are blessed, they have a special quality -- like in some soils the mangoes grow more than the others or the fruit are sweeter than they are on other soils. In the same way Sansarpur has been a fertile ground for hockey players. Everyone plays hockey here and plays good hockey,"
    Lakhbir Singh said.
    However, over the years, Sansarpur has failed to keep its eminent position in the game.
    Cricket became a national obsession following India's surprise victory in the 1983 World Cup. Public interest in other sports started waning. Hockey, India's national game was no exception having lost its golden sheen after the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
    Hockey, being in the blood of Sansarpur folks and driven by the desire to carry on the family legacy, its children still opt for the racy charm of a hockey stick instead of the laid back but much more popular game of cricket.
    Mohit Paul, an 11-year-old budding hockey star, says he wants to follow in the footsteps of his Olympian father.

    "Hockey is a nice game, all children like playing hockey here. My father is also an Olympic player, his name is George Paul and I want to become an Olympic player like him," said Mohit.
    With that ambition nursing in their hearts the budding hockey players aspire for bringing Sansarpur its lost glory back and see it again on the global hockey map.

    "I want to win a gold medal and bring laurels to my village and to my country India," said 10-year-old Hardeep Singh.
    But for the present, Sansarpur's famed hockey grounds and their former players wear a sad look as they go through the agony of watching the once dominating Indian hockey team now struggling even to qualify for the event that they used to win with consummate ease.
    This year, the eight-times Olympic hockey champions are in danger of missing the bus to Beijing and would be out of Games for the first time if they fail to win the qualifying tournament in Chile.
    The reasons for Indian hockey's demise are not hard to pin point.
    Hockey is not played the same the way as before. But at Sansarpur the clock seems to have stopped. Nothing has changed here despite being a nursery of world-class hockey players.
    Inadequate infrastructure - lack of an astro turf ground, dearth of professional coaches, waning interest and due to lack of international success --- all these have cumulatively contributed to hockey's fall from glory.
    For this reason many of the Indian players have failed to reproduce their magic on artificial turf, which favours power, speed and accuracy rather than deft stick-work.
    Indian sports administrators and experts believe that money is the key to improving the country's dismal showing at the Olympic Games where the country has won barely half a dozen medals in individual sports -- a paltry figure for a country of nearly 1.1 billion people.
    Popinder Singh, a hockey expert who has written books on the sport lamented on the lack of resources.

    "We don't have good coaches, even in schools the interest is waning. We don't have enough astro turfs to practice and play hockey. Holland has lots of grounds with astro turf, take the example of Sansarpur -- it is the village which has produced a large number of hockey players in the world but we don't even have a single astro turf here. Children play on grass or mud, so how do you expect them to excel on the astro turf?" said Singh.
    According to historians, British introduced hockey to Sansarpur in the year 1910 during the days of British Raj, when Manchester Guardian Regiment, a part of Jalandhar Brigade, prepared a hockey field in Sansarpur to groom the players.
    The inhabitants of Sansarpur soon started dominating their British masters in the game and the path to glory for this village began with Subedar-Major Thakar Singh, who toured New Zealand in 1926 as a member of the Indian army contingent, which was the first-ever Indian team to participate in any international tournament.
    For good players hockey was also a passport to get jobs in the Indian army and an aspiring lifestyle.
    But now those heady days remain confined to the memories and sports archives.
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