26-year-old Sukhjit Singh does Jalandhar proud, selected for Paris Olympics

Tribune News Service

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, June 30

For city lad Sukhjit Singh (26), getting selected in the Paris Olympics is like achieving a medal already because it was his father’s dream to see him playing in Olympics. Before joining the police force, Sukhjit’s father was a hockey player himself.

My father sacrificed his desires

We faced financial problems too. I started playing when I was only six years old. My father remained there for me and he used to sacrifice his desires to get me proper diet. — Sukhjit Singh

The journey has not been certainly easy and there were various challenges for him. Sukhjeet’s father Ajit Singh is posted as an ASI in the Punjab Police.

“We faced financial problems too. I started playing when I was only six years old. My father remained there for me and he used to sacrifice his desires to get me proper diet,” said Sukhjit.

Sukhjit’s father Ajit Singh said: “My son was merely five or six years old when we gave him first hockey stick. It was taller than him. I cut it short according to his height so that he could play it with ease. This is how his journey started”.

A total of 10 Punjabi players have been selected for the Indian Hockey Team for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024. As many as 11 Punjabis represented the Indian hockey team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won the bronze medal.

The team members include Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Hardik Singh (vice-captain), Manpreet Singh (former captain), Germanpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Sukhjit Singh, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh and Krishna Bahadur.

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