Jalandhar: Sweet success as Mithapur village rises again

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 2

In the newly-independent India, hockey sticks fashioned out of crooked branches plucked from trees and khido (balls) made from the ‘Akk da boota’ (calotropic gigantea) served as the earliest equipment for the young boys of Mithapur wanting to satisfy their sporting passion.

Also read: 3 from Jalandhar's Mithapur village in Indian hockey team

Hockey was an intriguing sport picked up from the British at the nearby Cantonment. After Swarup Singh’s glorious 1952 Olympics outing, hockey became a way of life. Army and hockey clubs fuelled passions. An exodus of village residents to foreign shores brought sombre times to the village hockey scene since the 1990s, fortunes have turned around due to a revival that kicked off in the 2000s.

Good sticks

Today even the youngest kids train with top-brand hockey sticks at the Mithapur Hockey Academy and Youth Sports Club. Several patrons — including former Olympians, Pargat Singh, NRIs and the Round Glass Academy — are responsible for bringing Mithapur out of the rut.

The village has produced six hockey Olympics stalwarts — Swarup Singh (1952 Helsinki), Kulwant Singh (1972 Munich), Pargat Singh (1988,1992 and 1996), and now the trio of Manpreet Singh (who played at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics too), Mandeep Singh and Varun Kumar.

The story of Mithapur has even gone global. Aussie legend Ric Charlesworth — a patron of the Mithapur Hockey Club and the Round Glass Academy — is a regular and has rubbed shoulders with village elders here! The 70-student strong Mithapur Hockey Academy has state-of-the-art facilties and players have their own jerseys, bottles, bags and lack no funds for their training — which, veterans say, makes them envious.

There are several rags to riches stories and many players from modest homes have risen to affluence. The modest village is now dotted with huge bungalows and kothis. Many former Olympians’ families have settled abroad — families of Swarup Singh and Kulwant Singh, for instance; former coaches and residents have moved abroad too, and many have played for English and Italian leagues. MLA Pargat Singh said: “In the 2000s the stadium was in tatters with 3-4 foot of sand. The rooms were used by drugs users. Hockey legacy was getting lost.” Pargat, then Director (Sports) in the state government, wanted to identify young talent. “I asked prominent villagers to find 10-12 good sporting kids to train,” he added. “We found 42 kids. We levelled the stadium. Sukhminder Grewal (international player), Sarabjit Singh Sabi, Amrik Singh, Surinder Pal pitched in with hockey expertise. Now drugs are history, hockey is future.”

First batch

While Manpreet was part of the first batch, later the families of Manpreet and Varun also rose to prominence from modest beginnings. The village now has four players marked out for future Olympics. At most players’ homes there is a bank of hockey sticks any kid can take — “if someone needs a stick, they don’t have to go empty handed”, said Pargat. Manpreet and Mandeep regularly coach youngsters.

Surinder Pal Singh Ghugga (72), who played for the East Bengal Club for six years, says, “We had never seen money as young players, now kids training have uniforms we could only dream of.”

“Mithapur had little agricultural land. There was no TV, hockey was the only entertainment. Men in hordes headed to the village gurdwara with hockey sticks every evening to play. The kids used trees as goals,” he adds. “A majority of Army personnel of village began playing for army clubs and money started coming in. The patronage of the East Bengal Club brought us prosperity.” “We have many talented kids who are on par with the best of players,” coach Balwinder Singh says.