By Prabhjot Singh | Panjab |
It was almost 100 years ago that Punjab created waves on the international hockey horizon when it sent players like Thakur Singh from Sansarpur to New Zealand on a first ever tour down under.
Though Punjab’s contribution to global hockey has been immense, this border State, once known as the sports arm of India, never got a chance to host the top hockey playing nations in a major tournament recognised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
Since then a lot of water has flown down the Sutlej.
Now, when finally Punjab has got the opportunity to hold its first ever international hockey tournament – Hero Asian Champions Trophy for Men at Jalandhar and Mohali from October 27 to November 5 featuring top six teams of the Aichi Asian Games 2026 – it would miss its strongest rival and neighbours Pakistan.
Pakistan had ended with a bronze medal in the Aichi Asian Games where India created waves and scripted history. It is for the first time that India won a hockey “double” by winning both men and women’s titles.
While men’s hockey was introduced in 1958, women’s competition was made a part of the Asian Games curriculum in 1982 when New Delhi p[layed host to the Continental Games.
The decision of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) not to send its Asian Games bronze medallist team to Mohali and Jalandhar for the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament is least surprising. Instead, its place went to Bangladesh.
The six nations in the fray for honours in the inaugural tournament will be hosts India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, Korea and Bangladesh.
Absence of Pakistan will deprive this first ever FIH sponsored international tournament on the Punjab soil much of its glory and sheen while the AAP Government has been excited to jump on the hockey bandwagon to boost its electoral chances in the ensuing Assembly elections early next year.
After India finished a poor eighth in the FIH World Cup for men at Amstelveen, questions were raised about the selection of the Indian team. Some players, many critics opined, though already over the hill, were still retained in the team. Their performance remained under a scanner.
The national selectors, – R P Singh, Balwinder Singh Shammi, Mohammad Riaz and M M Somaya – instead of a jerk reaction, persisted with the same team for the ASian Games where India men not only retained the gold but also earned the passport to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The selectors, including Olympian Balwinder Singh Shammi of Amritsar, and representing the hosts of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy, Hockey Punjab, congratulated both men and women teams for their excellent show in the Aichi Asian Games for their “double” gold.
Punjab has taken a leaf from several other states, including Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, who claimed to have drawn favourable feedback from followers of sports in their respective territories.
Since the elections to the State Assembly must be completed before the end of March next year, the possibility of rescheduling this major hockey mega event in Punjab does not arise.
Organising the State’s first ever international hockey event at the end of the hockey calendar has not met approval of the many of the hockey experts. After the 2026 FIH World Cups, both for men and women, in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Wavre (Belgium) in August closely followed by the Aichi Asian Games 2026 in September has satiated the appetite of hockey lovers of the subcontinent.
Though holding such a mega event is. Welcome, yet it would have been better if it was scheduled at the beginning of a new hockey calendar year, say many of hockey Olympians and international hockey players of the state,
“Why spend so much when the top hockey events have concluded in the just recent past. Those who competed in the FIH World Cup and the Asian Games must have been at different stages of fatigue. No one can and no one should expect them to give out their best after a hectic and tiring year in competitive hockey.
Players have no choice as they must appease their political masters and hence their consent matters the least.
The first phase of the tournament – round robin group matches with each of six teams playing against the rest of the five teams – will be at Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar.
The classification games to decide first to sixth positions will be played at the Mohali Hockey Stadium after a day’s break.
The participating teams – India, Malaysia, China, Japan, Korea, and Bangladesh – will enjoy Punjab’s warm and cordial hospitality. It will also boost Punjab’s sports goods industry at Jalandhar.
Before the synthetic surface was introduced in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, the leather balls used on the grassy playfields, especially used to come from Jalandhar or Sialkot in Pakistan. But once the playing surface changed, the leather balls went out of competitive international hockey as they were replaced by Dimple balls that initially came from Australia.
With the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy coming to Punjab, the sports goods industry, especially the hockey stick manufacturers of Jalandhar and Meerut, must be excited to get endorsements from Asian stars during their week-long sojourn in Jalandhar.
The allied sports industry associated with hockey, including protective wear, that has also changed significantly, will also get a chance to renew its stakes in the international arena.
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(Prabhjot Singh is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience of 14 years with Reuters News and 30 years with The Tribune Group. He has covered Punjab and Sikh affairs for more than three decades besides covering seven Olympics)
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