Mecca of hockey

It is a village with a population of 5,000; and lush history. Sansarpur, near Jalandhar Cantonment, is the one village of Punjab that strikes the right chord when it comes to being a contender for title ‘the cradle of Indian hockey’. The list of suitors for the moniker, however, is not a lengthy one. With each having the backing of numbers, only Coorg of Karnataka and Odisha’s Sundergarh come closest to match the tiny hamlet, widely known by many as ‘Mecca of hockey’, if not the ‘cradle’, but only a handful know that all 14 Olympians it has churned out, hailed from just one street.

The first Indian team to visit foreign lands in 1926 fielded Thakur Singh from Sansarpur. And in the days to come, the instance was harbinger of what the village, known as powerhouse of producing electrifying players, would have many more in its belly ready to burst forth onto the international landscape.

Giving it leverage, the most endearing fact about those 14-strong has been that in 1968 Mexico Games seven were from Sansarpur. While five of them, Balbir Singh (Pb), Balbir (Services), Jagjit Singh, Tarsem and Ajit Pal had represented India, the other two – Hardial and Jagjit – represented Kenya. India won a bronze that year. Prior to this, at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, four from the village were part of the gold-winning Indian squad. Needless to say, at the height of success, often termed as golden days of the Indian hockey, the team had won 11 medals, including six golds on the bounce, in 12 Olympics between 1928 and 1980.

Returning to Sansarpur, the hockey boys are also bearers of 12 Asian Games medals. As a record, 11 boys from the village were part of the gold medallist team that won in Bangkok at the 1966 Asian Games. It included A Frank, Harbinder, Balbir (Railways), Balbir (Services), Balbir (Pb), Inder, Tarsem, Gurbax, S Laxman, Prithipal and Jagjit.

All in all, it has birthed more than 306 international and national level hockey players for the country, of which more than 200 belong to ‘Kular’ sub-caste alone.

Beginnings & recurring glory

It was Subedar Major Thakur Singh Kular (in pic) who is credited with bringing the game to Sansarpur. A part of the Army XI contingent, he had toured New Zealand for an international match as early as 1926. But the first Olympian from this village was Col Gurmit S Kular, in 1932.

Many players from the village were part of the Olympics contingent for more than once. Sample this: IPS officer Udham S Kular represented India at the Olympics in 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964, bringing a medal each time. Ajit Pal Singh Kular voyaged three times ie 1968, 1972 and 1976. The last Sansarpurian to headline Olympics was Bindi Kular, who represented Canada in 2000.

Stamping its mark, there have been five Arjuna awardees from this village. These are Udham Singh, Jagjit S Kular, Col Balbir S Kular, Ajit Pal S Kular and Balbir S Kular (IPS), while Ajit Pal and Hardial S Kular are recipients of Padma Shri.

Whetting the curiosity, an extremely proud Col Balbir Singh, who was part of the 1968 Olympics team and 1966 Asian Games gold-winning squad, outlines the beginnings, “Since the cantonment came up just adjoining our village in the British era, their players used the Sansarpur’s grounds for sporting activities. This is how the villagers got an early brush with the hockey even as they used cloth balls made at home and club-shaped tree branches for hockey sticks. The boys used to play barefoot.”

His younger brother Popinder Singh Kular, a retired professor from Jamia Milia Islamia, chimes in, “Sansarpur is home to 306 hockey players. Our village did not just brew 14 Olympians but also 19 internationals, which represented India and other countries, and 110 national level players who played for 20 states and another 132 who represented various military teams.” Having penned a book on his village in Punjabi titled ‘Hockey Da Ghar Sansarpur’, he bemoans, “Our village could not produce any Olympian after 1980.”