Punjab's pride: From being brick-kiln worker to medallist at Khelo India Games

Since he was a teenager, Gurlal Singh (23) had to work along with his daily wager parents at a brick kiln, sometimes even in the night shift. Financial constraints had gripped his family tight at Attari in Amritsar. But fate changed for him about three years ago.

A local coach picked him and brought him to Seechewal Dera in Sultanpur Lodhi. He got him trained in water sports and since then he has been bringing national medals in K-4 1000m kayaking. His latest achievement is a silver medal at the Khelo India Games that concluded in Rajasthan last week.

“Now that I have medals, I am hoping to get a good job—may be in some airport or in the Indian Army or CRPF. I want to change the fate of my family. My elder brother, who was a state-level kho-kho player, left the game for my sake. Either of us had to earn money to support the family. Now he works so that I am able to continue sports”, said Gurlal sharing his touching story.

Coach Amandeep Singh Khera, who is a physical education teacher in a school of Tarn Taran, visits the water sports centre twice a week to train the youth. “We get up at 5 am and by 6 am we all start warm up and start running towards Gurdwara Ber Sahib.

We have practise session for kayaking and dragon boat thrice a day—every morning, afternoon and evening. We are given tasks. We sometimes take our boats on high speed up to a distance of 18 km. The sport involves a lot of stamina, energy and movement of all body parts”, Gurlal said.

Pardeep, who manages the sports centre at the Dera, said that it started in 2014. “Since then, it has trained more than 700 youth, mostly from rural areas of Punjab. I too had joined here as a trainee. The first phase of training for everyone is learning to swim in deep waters. The centre has about 50 boats for the purpose of sports only, each costing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. We have also organised national level water sports in the Bein here”, he said.

Gurlal added, “I could never think of buying a boat and entering into this costly sport. A good set of pedals used in the boat costs somewhere around Rs 70,000.” Gurlal is a student of physical education from Lyallpur Khalsa College and he was a part of the Guru Nanak Dev University team of four that took part in kayaking to win the Khelo India Games medal. “From the very first year since I started kayaking, I have been bringing national medals. Last year, I have got one gold and two bronze medals”, he said proudly.