The Canadian colts may have lost to India in their opening match at the Junior Hockey World Cup yesterday, but nonetheless, the visitors are feeling pretty much at home in the city of Nawabs, Lucknow.
The reason for this is the fact that the Canadian team features a total of 13 players who have an Indian connection, among the 18-man squad. Two among them, Floyd Mascarenhas and Ganga Singh were born in India while the rest have Indian roots.
Floyd, who plays in the capacity of a defender moved to Canada with his family at a tender age of two years, described his experience in India when he was speaking to fieldhockey.ca on Wednesday, "From what I've seen and from talking to other guys who have played there before, it's definitely something that everyone else has described as something you can't comprehend.”
However, having brought up in Canada, he is also of the opinion that hockey is a popular sport back home. "It's nothing like any other place in the world, the scale of hockey there."
The juniors get almost no support from government: Canadian coach
Canada’s gaffer Indy Sehmbi spoke highly of his boys and their dedication towards taking up the sport despite a dearth of sponsorships from the government, “While the senior team gets some funding from the government, the juniors get almost no support; and there are not many sponsors. Each player spent 10 thousand (Canadian) dollars each to play in the qualifiers,” he was quoted as saying to The Tribune.
When asked how did the players convince their parents to spend such a huge amount of money, Harbir Kahlon, one of the nine Punjabi-origin players said, “We didn’t have to because they have supported us from the beginning.” Kahlon was born and brought up in Canada but has his roots in a village near Sangrur.
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The Punjabi or Indian hockey legacy can be attributed to many youngsters taking up the sport of hockey in Canada. “Most of these guys picked up hockey because their fathers or grandfathers or uncles used to play the sport. They love the game and feel proud that they are carrying on with the family’s legacy,” Sehmbi said.
The Indo-Canadian atmosphere is really great: Parmeet Gill
20-year old Parmeet Gill who hails from Brampton, Ontario, a place with strong Indian presence along with team-mate Ganga Singh, came to India last summer to train at hockey school for a short stint of two months.
Talking about the same to fieldhockey.ca, Gill said, "Basically, we lived in this academy, we trained twice a day for five days a week, we ate there. We lived and breathed hockey for two months with those guys, learning Indian hockey."
The trip to India wasn’t a compulsion but the two players planned it out because of the significance of their Indian roots. Gill has trained in Vancouver with Canada's junior team for last several months. "The Indo-Canadian atmosphere is really great," he said. "I feel a community vibe here in India. I feel at home in India."
In their match against India, what made the occasion more special was the fact that the players had family coming in to watch them from the sidelines. “It was a very special occasion for us, watching our son make his World Cup debut against the Indian team in India,” said Sukhwinder, father of Rajan Kahlon, who played hockey at PAU Ludhiana.
Alongside Sukhwinder were, Rajan’s mother, Bimal, and younger sister Armaan. “It was a difficult moment as we were torn about whether to root for India or Canada,” said Bimal.
Thus, the Canadian squad may have lost their opening match but will bank on the strong crowd support as they progress ahead in the tournament. They play their next match against South Africa on the 10th of December.
