JALANDHAR (TIP): Tuesday, October 27, turned out to be a big day for Jalandhar and hockey lovers. While Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium at Burton Park was the center of all eyes, the State’s official language was desperately looking for a place where it could hide its face.
The State’s official language, Punjabi, was nowhere. Inside playing arena, hoardings, including side boards, were running scrolls in English and Hindi announcing Punjab as the pride hosts of this historic event. Nowhere in the Stadium was anything in Punjabi.
And incidentally, the tournament got off to an otherwise blast of Punjabi culture with Punjabi folklore and bhangra hawking the attention of nearly three-fourths of the stadium, where the Chief Minister, Bhagwant Singh Mann, made a big statement, offering to host the 2030 FIH World Cup in Punjab.
Living true to the traditions, Bhagwant Mann met families of some of the stars of Punjab and Indian hockey, both present and past, and invited all Punjabis to join this first-ever hockey festival being held on the soil of the State that has earned kudos worldwide for its immense contribution to the sport.
The main attraction of the show, after the cultural programme, was a drone show.
A digital show on the history of Indian hockey in general and Punjab in particular kept the spectators enthralled. There was a display of fireworks organized to the song “Jai Ho”.
Among those felicitated at the opening ceremony were Colonel Balbir Singh of Sansarpur, parents of Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh and family of former captain, Manpreet Singh, besides others.
Conspicuous by his absence was former Indian skipper, Olympian and three-time MLA and President of Punjab Congress Committee, Parget Singh. In a statement earlier in the day, Bhagwant Mann announced that he has extended an open invitation to all, irrespective of their political affiliations and said all former Olympians and international players have been invited to watch the tournament.
At the time of introduction, many of stalwarts of yesteryear, including Harpreet Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Daljit Singh Dhillon, Jugraj Singh, Ripudaman Singh, Jagdeep Singh Gill, Colonel Balbir Singh, RP Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh, and Rupinderpal Singh, and a few others.
Hockey India was represented by its Secretary-General Bhola Nath Singh, who went on to declare that Punjab would be accorded priority as and when any opportunity to hold any further FIH tournament came the way of Hockey India.
The tournament got off to a start with a feast of goals. Asian Games silver medalist Malaysia defeated China 5-4 in a game that saw the first penalty stroke awarded and converted by Malaysia.
In the second game, Japan beat South Korea 3-2.
The hosts India played Bangladesh in the third and final game after a glittering opening ceremony.
(Prabhjot Singh is a senior Toronto-based, award-winning independentjournalist, who worked with The Tribune, Reuters, and several media groupsin a career spanning nearly five decades. He has written extensively aboutDiaspora, Politics, Business, Aviation, Health, Public and Private Sectors andSports. He can be reached at prabhjot416@gmail.com)
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