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Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 17
The 8th Ek Onkar National Gatka Cup was held near Kali Bein here on Thursday. A total of eight teams took part in the cup. This year, it was dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. The cup was organised by Ek Onkar Charitable Trust Seechewal.
Yashpreet Singh, the coach of the Jammu team, said the beauty of gatka was that it was not compulsory that only the Sikhs could participate in it, people from any community could take part.
“Seven girls belonging to the Hindu community were part of our team. We witnessed a great amount of enthusiasm among them,” he added. Gatka made it to the National School Games in 2014.
In 2015, when the National School Games were held here, teams from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had participated in Gatka.
Moreover, girls from Bihar and Uttarakhand were part of the Chandigarh team.
Baljinder Singh Toor, general secretary, SGFI, had said, “Gatka is believed to be originated when Guru Hargobind Ji adopted Kirpan for self-defence during the Mughal era and Guru Gobind Singh Ji made it compulsory for everyone to use the weapons for self-defence.”
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