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Sikhs
in Hockey in India
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Hockey was introduced to India via the Armed Forces. As the Empire developed, ex-patriots working for such organisations as the Police, Indian Railways, the Indian Civil Service etc. joined in to form their own teams or set up separate clubs, the first of which was the Calcutta Club in 1985.
Pitches were readily available because apart from the various Army Stations, several well appointed residential centres had been built by the British often with married quarters. The grounds were beautifully kept and the lawns watered virtually every day. It led to the setting up of a Bengal championship – the Beighton Trophy – as far as records show in 1895. It is one of the earliest known competitions. Other tournaments followed including the Aga Khan tournament in Bombay around 1896. To start with they were confined to commissioned officers.
The game next spread first to the other ranks and then to native players who, although at that time using the English stick, began rapidly to exhibit unusual sharpness and skills, one theory being that these developed because, instead of having well tended grass pitches, they had to play a faster type of game on hard baked surfaces where a player could only progress if he had top ball control. Hockey has been played in Punjab since 1896. Hockey was played in the Punjab University Sports Tournament in 1903 – the same year the Lahore Gymkhana Club started the first open hockey tournament – the hot weather tournament. Punjab Hockey Association was formed in 1925. The Army Sports Control Board, which played a leading part in the formation of the Indian Hockey Federation, was established in 1919.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) was founded in Paris on the 7th January 1924. France, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Spain and Switzerland were the founder members. The FIH having been set up and given I.O.C. recognition, hockey was granted re-admission with effect from 1928. In November 1925 Associations such as those of Western India, Sind, Gwalior, Punjab and Delhi combined to form the Indian Hockey Federation. India joined the Olympic movement and played her first Olympics at Amsterdam in 1928. Nine teams participated in the hockey competition with India winning the Gold medal in her first appearance. That winning team included a Sikh from Punjab. And there begins the history of Sikhs in the sport of hockey at Olympic Games where Sikhs have featured in at all the Olympic Games played since 1928. India's match records at Olympic Games: 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, click here
1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, click here
1936 Berlin Olympic Games, click here
1948 London Olympic Games, click here
1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, click here
1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, click here
1960 Rome Olympic Games, click here 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, click here
1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, click here 1972 Munich Olympic Games, click here
1976 Montreal Olympic Games, click here 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, click here
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, click here 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, click here 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, click here
1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, click here 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, click here 2004 Athens Olympic Games, click here
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