City’s ‘Chak De’ girls aim for Olympics gold

Avneet kaur

Jalandhar, June 5

The ‘Chak De’ girls of Jalandhar have brought numerous moments of happiness and accolades for city residents by winning many gold and silver medals in various national and international hockey matches.

Gurjit Kaur, who has dedicated her life to the game, is currently a player in the Indian Hockey team and has been selected in the Indian Railways as a junior clerk and posted in Allahabad. “I am playing hockey since childhood. I wanted to be an international player. I am fortunate that I kept on getting good coaching in my school days and also in college to be able to make up a mark in the international hockey circuit,” she said.

Gurkamal Preet Kaur, whose father is a carpenter, has won the gold medal in the Junior National Games 2016, silver medal in Sub- Junior National Games 2016 and a bronze medal in the Rural National Games 2016. She has an aim to represent India at the international level and make her father proud. “It does not matter whether you belong to a poor background or are financially stable. All that matters in the end is your dedication and your passion for your game,” said Gurkamalpreet. Amita, who is just 17, is a native of Gurdaspur and has won silver medal at the Sub-Junior National Games. She said she had a keen interest in hockey since childhood and wanted to be like her cousin who is also a national-level player in hockey.

Bharti Thakur, who belongs to Hoshiarpur, has won gold medal in the Junior National Games. Initially, she was not interested in hockey, and it was during her school days that she developed interest into the game after seeing her seniors playing on the school ground. Now, she looks forward to bring gold medal for India in Olympics. “I am living for hockey. I have a dream to clinch gold in the Olympics and I am making all efforts to turn my dream into reality,” said Bharti.

Navjeet Kaur, who belongs to Kairon, the village of former CM Pratap Singh Kairon, is a silver medal winner in the Senior National Games. She shares, “My parents were against me and never supported my participation and thus, it was very difficult for me to make them realise that I wanted to pursue my career in hockey.”

Dr Navjot Kaur, Principal, Lyallpur Khalsa College, said hockey was still the favourite game amongst women students in the city. “The college has the distinction of winning maximum medals in hockey in the district and if supported by the state government further, the game can revive its old magic in Punjab,” she said.