Warriors Hockey Club: Fill & Download for Free

A hockey player with a lot of promise, who had debuted in international hockey in 2004, was on his way to join the national squad ahead of their departure for the FIH World Cup in Germany. He was travelling on the Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express when a Railway Protection Force jawan accidentally shot him.The bullet fractured his rib, damaged his spine, kidneys and liver. Doctors proclaimed the death sentence – it would be next to impossible to play.He said it was the worst day of his life. All he wanted to do, lying in his hospital bed at PGIMER Chandigarh, was go out and play. He asked his brother to bring him his hockey stick and holding it his hands promised himself and his brother that he would play hockey again.After two years in a wheelchair, play he returned to the national team in 2008 and a year later became the captain of the Indian national team. Under his captaincy, India won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 2009 after 13 long years. He stroked in six of India’s 12 goals, was declared Player of the TournamentNext up, the 2012 London Olympics.He was a man possessed, practicing every waking hour. He even had the five Olympic rings tattooed on his wrists! His critics will admit that while India returned empty-handed, it was a well-fought battle.So to tell you….he was none other than the soorma -SANDEEP SINGHLed by Singh, India qualified after eight years with a resounding victory over France in the finals of the qualifiers. Sandeep Singh scored five goals – including a hat-trick – and propelled himself into sporting history with a 16-goal haul – the highest in the qualifiers.It is Singh’s personal battle that Soorma explores. Getting back into the game and earning the captaincy was uphill all the way. Being wheelchair-bound meant he had lost 40 per cent of his body weight and the simple act of standing unaided seemed impossible. But he prevailed and from that abyss he earned the moniker ‘Flicker Singh’, one of the world’s most dangerous drag-flickers of all time, with drag speeds of over 145 km/hour.Actor/singer Diljit Dosanjh who spent four months training with Sandeep Singh for the role says the hockey legend’s dedication, passion and commitment to the game made him work that much harder. At a media interaction recently, Diljit Dosanjh confessed he had felt ashamed that he knew so little about Singh’s struggles till he read the script.In fact, much as Singh’s story needs to be told, so does Harjinder’s ( Sandeep’s wife) who sacrificed her own career as a hockey player for domesticity.The two, in fact, met on the hockey grounds in their hometown Shahabad in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district. A long courtship ended in an engagement in 2008, followed by marriage.After marriage, Singh requested Harjinder to give up her career and become a full-time homemaker. Subsequently, after the birth of their son Sehajdeep, there was no going back to the game. But Harjinder has no regrets. Their mutual love for the game, which brought them together, keeps them tethered.When Singh visits home, he sometimes asks Harjinder, his brother and sister-in-law (also hockey players) to grab their sticks and knock the ball around. And for that time, if only illusory, it’s as if they are back at the academy in Kurukshetra where it all began.When he’s home, he’s a full-time husband – long bike rides to Ambala, dosas at a favourite diner and conversations over Jeera Soda.It’s only with Harjinder that he can be a petulant little boy. In 2009, when she went to watch her husband play the Punjab Gold Cup final against Holland, which they lost, he told her not to come to the matches anymore. Harjinder didn’t mind. She knew it came from an enduring love for the game he plays so well.But passion play doesn’t always translate into results. After the London Olympics loss in 2012, Singh was out of favour and sidelined from the national squad for nine months. He was dropped from the Asian Champions Trophy, Azlan Shah Cup, Champions Trophy and World League Round 2 thereafter.That’s when his friend, cricketer Harbhajan Singh stepped in and helped him tide over the bad phase.Harbhajan told him to continue working hard and spend quality time with his family. Singh heard him out, followed his advice and returned to the national-fold for the FIH World League Round 3 in Netherlands. He said he was as confident of a comeback then as he was in 2006 after the accident.In 2013, when the Hockey India League was launched, Mumbai franchise, Mumbai Magicians bought him for $64,400 – the fifth highest-paid marquee player. It was money well spent – Singh scored 11 goals from 12 appearances and became the top scorer at the event.And so began his club career. He was signed by the English field hockey club, Havant Hockey Club. This of course, meant that he had to relocate to the UK in 2014. This of course, meant, he scored 24 goals for his team, becoming Havant’s top scorer and the third top scorer overall during the 2014-15 league season!In 2014, Punjab Warriors bought him, followed by Ranchi Rays. International forays included playing for the St George Randwick Hockey Club in Australia and for Harvard Hockey Club in England in 2017.Singh is now keen to take up a mentor’s role for youngsters wanting to master the art of drag-flicking. He says he is still the #1 drag-flicker in India and it’s time bequeath this knowledge, this mastery of the game, to the younger players.And as a consultant and a technical adviser to ‘Collectives for Integrated Livelihoods’, he’s doing just that. It’s an initiative by the Tata Trust for grassroots hockey development in Jamshedpur, and Singh, who has been training 6000 players is amazed each day by their commitment to learn and excel.When he’s not playing, the 32-year-old defender is also a DSP with the Haryana police.Ahead of his biopic’s release, Singh has made another journey, again after 12 years. It’s to the PGIMER hospital, Chandigarh, where he was treated in the aftermath of the gunshot injury.In a video clip shared on social media he said, “It is exactly after 12 years that I am standing outside the entrance of this hospital and I am getting goosebumps standing here.”Gratitude apart, the former hockey captain is aware of just how blessed he was to have the full weight of the government behind him during the accident. The Haryana state government bore his entire medical expenses during the two years he was wheelchair bound, but while that’s not to be sniffed at, Singh is as much concerned about the lack of a world-class rehabilitation centre for sportspersons in India.He has now written to Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore requesting the government to set up a world-class rehab centre for sportspersons in recovery. While Singh may finally find closure for that traumatic day in 2006, his love for the game remains all-consuming shorn of all bitterness or victimhood. In fact, in 2010, India recognized his contributions to field hockey with the Arjuna Award.Singh has been out of the national team since 2014, and while his dream of a farewell national match may not come to pass, he says he will always remember what his dad told him long ago. “Jo suraj subah ko ugta hai wo sham ko asth hota hai (the sun which rises in the morning is bound to set in the evening). He’s had his time in the sun and now the moment has come to give back to the game which gave him so much.Source- GQ India - Men's Magazine - India's Leading Men's MagazineA SALUTE OF RESPECT TO THE PERSON WHO SERVED OUR NATION TO THE FULLEST EVEN AFTER GETTING SERIOUSLY INJURED . HIS LOVE FOR THE NATION IS WHAT EVERY PERSON SHOULD HAVE IN HIM !!!!Regards;-)

JAMIE DWYERHe is the G.O.A.T of today's hockey era.His talent and skill in the game are inhuman.Dwyer is counted among the greatest players of the sport in contemporary era. He pretty much has done it all – Commonwealth gold, World Cup gold and Olympic gold. Playing more than 300 games for Australia and over 190 international goals (more international goals than any other player).He has been named the world's best hockey player for 5 times!”Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.”~ Jamie dwyerACHIEVEMENTS WITH AUSTRALIAN TEAM:2008 Bronze Medal (Beijing)2004 Gold Medal (Athens)2010 Gold Medal (India, New Delhi)2006 Silver Medal (Moenchengladbach, Germany)2002 Silver Medal (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)2011 Gold Medal (Auckland, New Zealand)2010 Gold Medal (Germany, Moenchengladbach)2009 Gold Medal (Australia, Melbourne)2008 Gold Medal (Holland, Rotterdam)2007 Silver Medal (Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur)2005 Gold Medal, (India, Chennai)2003 Silver Medal (Holland, Amsterdam)PERSONAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS:FIH Word Hockey Player of the Year: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007 and 2004FIH Junior World Hockey Player of the Year: 2002Australian Player of the Year: 2009QAS Sports Star of the Year: 20102005 Gold Medal, (India, Chennai)2003 Silver Medal (Holland, Amsterdam)Player of the Tournament: 2010: Champions Trophy (Germany, Moenchgladbach)2008: Champions Trophy (Holland, Rotterdam)2006: World Cup (Germany, Moenchengladbach)OVERSEAS CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS:Dutch National Championship: Season 2009/10 (Hockey Club Bloemendaal)Season 2008/09 (Hockey club Bloemendaal)Season 2005/06 (Hockey club Bloemendaal)Euro League Champion: Season: 2008/09 (Hockey club Bloemndaal)(Also played in national hockey competitions in Spain (2006/07 Royal Club de Polo, Barcelona) and India (Maratha Warriors 2007).

I know of two such officers.Both joined the Indian Administrative Service (ICS or Indian Civil Services then), before the Independence of India.Both eventually left it though, to achieve bigger things in life.While one of them, is the reason, many Indian parents around the world, still name their sons as Subhas, today, I’d like to share with you the story of this other Gentleman, who too was a certified badass no less.He was born on the 3 January 1903, to a family, belonging to the Munda tribe, in modern day Jharkhand.His tribal parents prayed almost everyday for him to someday become a responsible cattle herder. He though was destined to disappoint them for good.He thus became the first boy from his village:To go to school.To become the captain of the school hockey teamTo come first in his class.To earn a full scholarship to study in England.To graduate with honors in Economics from the Oxford University.To play as a defender in the celebrated Oxford University Hockey team.To crack the super tough ICS (Indian Civil Services) exam held in London.What else a simple boy born in a tribal family, from a tiny village, somewhere in India could have asked for, right? - Wrong!He left it all - and during the 1928 Olympic Games, accepted the Captainship of the till then little known, Indian Hockey Team - going on to play 17 matches against the top rated international teams of the world - earning an incredible 16 wins and 1 draw.One of those wins - earned us Indians, our first Olympic Gold in Field Hockey - something that we kept on winning till 1956.Our man went on to set up a new Hockey Team for the prestigious Mohun Bagan Club in Calcutta (Kolkata now) - Got elected as the President of the Bengal Hockey Association and became a member of the all powerful Indian Sports Council - He even took up the prestigious job of the Foreign Secretary to the Princely State of Bikaner on the sides.What else a simple boy born in a tribal family, from a tiny village, somewhere in India could have asked for, right? - Wrong!He left it all again - this time, deciding to focus all his energies towards the betterment of Tribal people of India. He formed a political outfit, The Adivasi Mahasabha in 1938 and gradually earned a name as the Marang Gomke (or Great Leader) among the tribals of the Chota Nagpur region.He was so popular - that after Independence - He was elected as a representative of the Tribals to the Constituent Assembly of India.Why am I telling you all this - hang on!During the drafting process of the Indian Constitution after the Indian Independence - three issues attracted the most interest among the members:That the Indian Constitution should be secular.That the Indian system of governance should be socialist.That there should be a prohibition in India - making India an alcohol free country.While there were voices on both sides of the argument for India to be a Socialist Republic - there was a rare consensus in the Constituent Assembly for the new nation to be constitutionally Secular and for India to have a countrywide prohibition on Alcohol - Something that even Mahatma Gandhi had asked for.It was almost certain for India to declare a nationwide prohibition on Alcohol, but for our man - who rose up to give one of the most well received speeches of the Indian Constituent Assembly.A speech during which, he called himself a ‘Jungli’ (generally a derogatory term, used to signify a forest dweller or someone uncouth) - a speech which among other things, advised the members of the assembly to vote against Prohibition.Here are a few excerpts[1]:I rise to speak on behalf of millions of unknown hordes - yet very important - of unrecognised warriors of freedom, the original people of India who have variously been known as backward tribes, primitive tribes, criminal tribes and everything else, Sir, I am proud to be a Jungli, that is the name by which we are known in my part of the country.As a jungli, as an Adibasi, I am not expected to understand the legal intricacies of the Resolution. But my common sense tells me that every one of us should march in that road to freedom and fight together. Sir, if there is any group of Indian people that has been shabbily treated, it is my people.Now, as far as the Adibasis are concerned, no religious function can be performed without the use of rice beer. The word here used - the phrase used is "intoxicating drinks". Sir, that is a very vague way of describing the thing, and, also 'injurious to health'.My friend Prof. Shibban Lal has tried to put forward the argument of economic efficiency. He thinks that if prohibition were installed in this country, the economic efficiency of the workers would be enhanced.I dare say it would be. But what I want to tell him is that it is not merely the industrial workers whom he has particularly in mind, that are affected. In West Bengal, for instance, it would be impossible for paddy to be transplanted if the Santhal does not get his rice beer.I would request you that this amendment be deferred until such time as we come to the recommendations of the Advisory Committee in regard to the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Areas; because, if we decide the thing at this stage, we shall be doing ourselves wrong. We shall be unfair to a very important and, at the present moment, politically helpless minority.Sir, I need say nothing more than that I am opposed to this amendment, and my humble request to you would be that the further consideration of this amendment be taken up after we have come to a decision with regard to the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled AreasThis is the speech, the only speech[2]- that convinced the Constituent Assembly to not vote in favor of Prohibition of Alcohol in India.Our man went on to play a very active role in the emancipation of the Tribal communities of India, becoming an erudite voice of reason, representing the voiceless and the often unheard.Owning to his popularity among his people, he even got elected to the first 4 Parliaments of India[3].Among other things, it was he, who coined the term - “Jharkhand”[4][5] which went on to become a state in the eastern parts of India, 30 years after his death.Meet Shri Pramod Pahan, popularly known as Jaipal Singh Munda.Born on 3 January 1903, in Takra Village[6], Pahan Toli, near Ranchi, in modern day Jharkhand, he died on 20 March 1970 in New Delhi[7].While our Government has already recognised the immensely valuable contribution of doyens and stalwarts like Saif Ali Khan, Hans Raj Hans, Priyanka Chopra, Kajol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (no offence intended) - They are still to honor the memory and legacy of Shri Jaipal Singh Munda.I would like to take this opportunity to request the Indians who drink, to take a lead on this one, and atleast dedicate a cheers to him, the next time they clink a glass.Since I do not drink - I am writing here to re-tell his story - hoping to share his memory with everyone who cares.A simple boy born in a tribal family, from a tiny village, somewhere in India, deserves this for sure.Thank you for reading. Cheers and peace.Footnotes[1] Constituent Assembly Debates - Volume VII, 1948-11-24[2] Prohibition: A failed idea[3] http://164.100.47.194/loksabha/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/753.htm[4] The Jharkhand Story - I The rebel who began it all...Jaipal Singh Munda • r/india[5] A 'Jungli' In The Constituent Assembly: Jaipal Singh Munda[6] The Telegraph - Calcutta : Jharkhand[7] Jaipal Singh | Making Britain