How Surjit Hockey Tournament Has Emerged as the Shining Light of Indian Domestic Hockey Across Decades!
The Surjit Hockey Tournament would be right up there among the top-notch domestic hockey tournaments in the country. And not many would dare to question the exalted status of this tournament. Surjit Hockey Society – the organisers of this prestigious hockey tournament – have been doing a commendable job over time, in getting this tournament together every year diligently working behind the scenes without hogging much limelight and offering hockey fans a week of high-dose of exciting hockey every year.
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The Surjit Hockey Society was formed in 1984 with an objective of keeping the name of former Indian captain, ace fullback and a member of India’s 1975 World Cup-winning team Surjit Singh Randhawa alive. Surjit had lost his life in a fatal car accident in Kartapur near Jalandhar on January 7th, 1984. He was no ordinary defender – Surjit created an aura around him for his eye-catching performances on the hockey turf (or grass in those days). Not for nothing Surjit was acclaimed as one of the best full backs in the world and was included in the World Hockey XI 1973. He was also part of India’s silver-winning 1973 World Cup team besides being members of India’s silver-winning teams at the 1974 and 1978 Asian Games.
It was Surjit’s invincible presence in the Indian deep defence that helped the Indian men’s team craft several success stories in the seventies and early eighties. The Jallandhar-based Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium was set up by the Surjit Hockey Society – further, the Surjit Hockey Academy was established by the Punjab government in 2005 that produced players, who have gone on to serve the country with distinction.
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The Surjit Hockey Tournament is 41 editions old and it has taken massive efforts on the part of the organisers to maintain the stature of this tournament each year. The tournament that is now played at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium, was initially held in the eighties on grass at the Shri Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Jalandhar. Western Command were the winners of the inaugural edition in 1984 beating PSEB, Patiala in the final.
For the statistically-minded, Punjab & Sind Bank have won the Surjit Hockey Tournament on most occasions – 11 times, while Punjab Police and Indian Oil Mumbai have won this tournament on six and five occasions respectively. This tournament has attracted the who’s who of Indian hockey – it has drawn overseas teams from Asia and Europe.
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The stature of the Surjit Hockey Tournament enhanced steadily – in 2007 the tournament was played under floodlights for the first time and an under-19 boys tourney was held for the first time – a women’s senior tournament alongside the men’s senior tournament was held from time to time. One can recall memories of the 25th edition of the Surjit Hockey Tournament in 2008 when three teams from Pakistan participated – Javed Hockey Club, Gojra, Crescent Hockey Club, Sialkot, and Independent Hockey Club, Sargodha. Javed Hockey Club, Gojra reached the final where they lost to Punjab and Sindh Bank. Subsequently, Javed Hockey Club, Gojra from Pakistan was again part of the Surjit Hockey Tournament in the 27th edition in 2010 alongside the other foreign team – Air Asia from Malaysia.
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The organisers of the Surjit Hockey Tournament do not believe in going through the motions – it makes an earnest effort to ensure the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium is packed to the rafters every year when the tournament is around. The organisers accords a lot of emphasis on pulling in spectators for the Surjit Hockey Tournament – it awards spectators watching the proceedings with attractive prizes such as Maruti ALTO car, motorcycles, refrigerators and LCDs in line with its objective to drive interest for the national sport.
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All said and done, the Surjit Hockey Tournament continues to leave myriad fond memories with every passing year – not many domestics tournaments can match the dedication of the organizers. With each year, the tournament has gone from strength to strength and emerged as the most-looked-upto tournament with a bevy of sponsors always ready to support this tournament.
