Under-19 boys’ volleyball team clinches silver medal

The Under-19 boys’ team from Government Senior Secondary State Sports School has won a silver medal in the 68th School State Volleyball Championship that was held in Sahoke village of Sangrur district. The championship that started on September 17 concluded on September 20.

It is after 21 years that the school sports team has won the medal in a state-level championship. The players have now got selected for the national level camp and most of them belong to a humble background.

Amritpal Singh who is India’s youngest third level coach with the Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB), trained the team.

“I must say that the players are hardworking and have a positive attitude towards the game,” he said. The coach has also remained with Punjab Institute of Sports (PIS), Mohali, from 2016-2019. “I ensured that professional and advanced level training was given to the players,” he added.

The players stay in the hostel of the Government Senior Secondary State School of Sports —Punjab’s oldest and most prestigious sports institute that is home to players from across the state.

The foundation stone was laid in 1961 by Punjab’s first Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon. The hostel too was built the same year.

The new hostel, built in 2015 to replace the ageing 1961 building, was meant to be the icing on the cake for the school. Ironically, it’s now the one that is in terrible condition. Huge cobwebs hang from the ceilings of hostel rooms. There are no coolers, just old fans that turn slowly and barely stir the air.

Hockey Olympian Pargat Singh, an alumnus who is now an MLA from Jalandhar Cantt, blames the Punjab Government for the “poor state of affairs”.

“I used to stay in the old hostel in the 1980s. The condition of the new hostel is deplorable. It’s clear the government isn’t paying heed to sports at the ground level, which is very sad,” he had earlier told The Tribune.