Doaba celebrates success of its 6 hockey players in Asian Games

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, October 7

With the Indian men’s hockey team winning the gold medal in the Asian Games on Friday, it was celebration time at Mithapur, the hometown of three players Manpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Varun Kumar.

Six players of the Indian men’s hockey team hail from Doaba. Apart from the Mithapur trio, they are Hardik Singh Rai (Khusropur), Surjit Singh (Jalandhar) and Krishan Bahadur Pathak (Kapurthala).

Manjit Kaur, mother of Manpreet, says, “With the blessings of the God, Manpreet has attained new height of success.”

Basking in the glory of his son’s triumph, Varun’s father Brahmanand says, “After the Champions Trophy win earlier this year, I expected India to win the Asian Games gold also.”

Brahmanand says, “My son has made me proud. I have met all team members. They are like a big family.” Mithapur, known as hockey nursery, is riding high on the players’ success. Coach Balwinder Singh, who tutored the trio early on, says, “The game has seen a glorious revival.”