SGPC announces launch of three hockey academies

Indian hockey has been showing signs of matching the world’s best in recent months. A fourth-place finish in the one of the premier tournaments of the world – the 2012 FIH 34th Champions Trophy held in Melbourne, Australia – infused a ray of hope that Indian hockey is slowly charting out the progress path.

The team finished runners-up in the Asian Champions Trophy and before making it to the FIH Hockey World League semifinals in emphatic fashion.

The inaugural Hero Hockey India League was a howling success as it triggered renewed interest among hockey lovers about the sport gaining an upswing going forward. The manner in which some of our talented youngsters rubbed shoulders with the world’s best gave a new self-belief that Indian hockey is stepping in the right direction.

The sport got a major leg-up as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) announced the launch of three hockey academies across three centres in Punjab in a bid to pep up the interest of the youth in the country’s national game and thus restore the past glory of Indian hockey.

Senior Secondary School here, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar recently announced the launch of these academies in Amritsar, Faridkot and Patiala.

These academies would be run from SGPC schools in the three cities.

Hockey greats like Brig Harcharan Singh (retd) and former Olympian Surinder Singh Sodhi alongwith Ajitpal Singh, captain of the 1975 World Cup winning team, MLA and former Indian captain Pargat Singh and present day international Rajpal Singh, would form the coaching team under whose tutelage the youngsters would sharpen their hockey skills.

It may be worth recalling that hockey is the second sport SGPC is focusing on after kabaddi. The SGPC has its own kabaddi team, which have won a number of tournaments, both within the country as well as abroad.

The SGPC wants to lay emphasis on sports since it believes apart from religious preaching it is imperative to keep youngsters occupied for recreational activities so that they do not get into bad habits like hooking on drugs among others.

The Amritsar academy would see boys in the under-15 age group, being trained for four days in a week at the Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) astroturf ground and two days on natural surface.

The Patiala academy would see youngsters use the Sports Authority of India (SAI) astroturf ground, while the Faridkot academy would see the youngsters train at the astroturf ground of the district administration, for which SGPC has already secured permission of the state government.

The selection trials for the academies were held between February and April 2013 in Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Faridkot. Out of a total of 1,200 students under the age of 15, as many as 93 were finally selected. These youngsters would be sent to the three academies as per their preferences.