India is a sports-loving nation and has a special space in India. We are blessed to have Word class athletes and players which has produced so many great sportsmen in every sport. In recent times Indian women athletes have amazed us by breaking the gender barrier and created a niche which inspired the future generation. Players like Sania Mirza, Mary Kom, Mithali Raj, Saina Nehwal, Geeta Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Deepa Malik, PV Sindhu, Dipa Karmakar, Mithali Raj to name a few have reached the top against odds and also made us proud by being trailblazers the best game-changers we will ever know. They have taught us to look beyond gender stereotypes and paved the way to empower us all.
Sania Mirza has had a long and illustrious career, has won several trophies, and awards. She is one of the most popular female sportspersons in our country. She is a trailblazer who has brought women tennis in the limelight and at the same time and inspired young athletes to take up the sports. She also holds the rare record of being the only player to have broken into the top 30 of the WTA singles rankings. She has a legendary status in the doubles circuit by partnering with Martina Hingis playing with some of the best players in women’s and mixed doubles. They went to become the best doubles players on the planet, winning 3 Slams and 2 WTA Finals titles.
Tennis Ace player Sania Mirza and partner Shuai Zhang her first title of the year defeating Kaitlyn Christian and Erin Routliffe in the women’s doubles final of the Ostrava Open. This is Sania’s first WTA win in 20 months, she had last won WTA title at the Hobart International way back in January 2020. Mirza and Zhang beat their opponents from Japan also in straight sets, 6-2 7-5, in the semi final match.
It is the second final that Mirza played in this season and her first win in 2021. She finished as runner-at the WTA 250 Cleveland event in the US last month with Chirstina Mchale.
Taapsee Pannu is one of most talented actresses in our country who has carved a niche for herself without coming from a film background. In recent times we have seen Taapsee has been experimenting with her choices of her roles which shows her versatility as an actor. Thappad actress strives to give her best in everything she does. A while back Taapsee Pannu took to social media to share training shared her transformation journey for her sports drama,
Rashmi Rocket To get into the skin of her character, she started training to get a perfect physique for her role as a sprinter in the film.
The maker of the movie, Rashmi Rocket launched the trailer of the movie and Pannu is back to the entertain the audience with her acting ability. Post watching the trailer get to see Rashmi dreams to repressing Team India at world championship but her life journey of a sprinter whose life come crashing down when she is asked to undergo a gender test. Post failing her gender test, when she doesn’t fit into conventional feminine cut, she gets banned from the sport after being declared ‘not a woman’. This leads to her determination to get justice of herself and also get back to the racing track. near-perfect athletic body, mannerism and on-field action
The movie boast of powerful cast which consist of Priyanshu Painyuli as Rashmi’s love interest, Abhishek Banerjee as a lawyer and Supriya Pathak as her mother. While interacting with the media, Taapsee was quoted saying “I’ve always been approached when either the script or the director is ready to make the film but one line of this story fell in my lap in Chennai and then from there to it becoming a full-fledged film has been a feeling I haven’t experienced with any other film before. Everyone was just so sure about the story from day one. I’m extremely proud of it.”
Taapsee is on cloud nine post receiving so much love for the trailer of her upcoming film Rashmi Rocket, took to social media and wrote. “Had I known this amount of love will come in I would’ve kept this expression more constantly on track! #RashmiRocketTrailer out now! (sic).”
The movie is being directed by Akarsh Khurana and co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya. The movie is all set to release on Zee5 on 15th October. The movie is written by Nanda Periyasamy, Aniruddha Guha and Kanika Dhillon.
Cricket first came into the limelight when Team India won the 1983 world cup. Post that there has been no looking back, became a religion for the citizens and the players as Demi-God. But in recent past, we have witnessed the evolution of Indian women cricket and produced maverick cricketers who made their name in the international arena such as Anjum Chopra, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jhulan Goswami and Smriti Mandhana to name a few who have broken economic, social, and men-centric obstacles to speak to the nation.
For a long time there has been talks to adopt more gender-neutral terms to encourage women to play the sport. The first step has been taken by Marylebone Cricket Club who have gone on to amend a law of the game by introducing gender-neutral term ‘batter’ and ‘batters’ instead of ‘batsman’ or ‘batsmen’. Marylebone Cricket Club was founded in 1787 and has the sole authority on cricket’s law. In recent times we have seen popularity women’s cricket growing many precentedly at all around the world.
MCC has today announced amendments to the Laws of Cricket to use the gender-neutral terms “batter” and “batters”, rather than “batsman” or “batsmen”.
MCC committee after having discussion with club’s specialist Laws sub-committee, finally approved this rule. MCC, the custodians of the game released an statement was quoted saying “MCC believes that the use of gender-neutral terminology helps reinforce cricket’s status as an inclusive game for all.The amendments are a natural evolution from work already undertaken in this area as well as an essential part of MCC’s global responsibility to the sport.” We have noticed that number of governing bodies and media organizations have been using the term batter.
Indian captain Mithali Raj is looking forward to tour of England and playing against Australia and the World Cup in New Zealand. For sometime there has been speculation that Mndia’s ODI captain Mithali Raj is all set to retire from the sport post ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup next year in New Zealand for her country.
The news was confirmed by India ODI captain Mithali Raj was quoted saying “The 2021 event will obviously be my last World Cup, and I hope to see India lift the trophy. part from being a great achievement for the team, World Cup glory will further advance the cause of women’s cricket in India and we saw that the 2017 World Cup had a positive effect as well.”
Winning any ICC event, be it in ODIs or T20I, will be a massive inspiration to the next generation of girls, but the 2021 World Cup, being in the fifty-over format, is considered the pinnacle by any cricketer. And I really hope India can go one better than they performed in the last edition.”
“India has been doing very well at ICC tournaments in the last three or four years, whether you talk about the (ODI) World Cup or the recently-concluded T20 World Cup.” she added.
Virat Kohli has over the years has elevated his game over the career spanning 11 years and counting. In his professional career, there has been a lot of ups and downs but thin which has been his self-belief in his skills and putting in hard work in whatever he puts his heart into it. The sudden change came in 2011 and from there has been no looking back for Delhi born Player. He performed superbly at the Ranji as well as India level.
Indian Captain, Virat Kohli became only the 7th batsman to get to 23,000 international runs and the fastest to get there as the India skipper overtook Sachin Tendulkar by 32 innings. Virat Kohli shocked the cricket fraternity last week, when he announced that he would step down as India’s T20I captain post the T20 World Cup that is scheduled to play in the United Arab Emirates from 17th October.
Kohli followed footsteps of MS Dhoni and took to social platform to release the statement for paving the way for split captaincy in Indian cricket. He wrote “Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly for last 5-6 years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket. I have given my everything to the Team during my time as T20 Captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 Team as a batsman moving forward. Of course, arriving at this decision took a lot of time. After a lot of contemplation and discussions with my close people, Ravi bhai (Shastri) and also Rohit, who have been an essential part of the leadership group, I’ve decided to step down as the T20 Captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October.”
Virat Kohli’s eight-year tenure as the RCB skipper will be coming to an end Post IPL2021. The news was confirmed on their RCB Twitter handle, he said, his will be my last leg in the IPL as captain of the RCB. I will continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. It was something that was on my mind for a while, as I had recently announced stepping down from T20 captaincy (of the country) to manage my workload.” He further added that “I want to be able to be committed to the responsibilities that I am fulfilling and I felt I needed the space to be fresh, to regroup and be absolutely clear in how I want to move forward. This is just a little halt, it’s not the end of the journey.”
Under his leadership RCB has won 62 of the 132 matches, they also have 66 losses and 4 no-results. The best season during his leadership has been way back in 2016 when they lost final to SunRisers Hyderabad by 8 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, their home ground. He went on to score with staggering 973 runs, but it eluded him. But on the other occasion in 2015 and 2020 they have come closer to make in to the playoffs.
He was quoted saying “It has been a great and an inspiring journey, captaining a talented bunch of players in the RCB squad,” Kohli said. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the RCB management, coaches, support staff, players, and the entire RCB family, who have been instrumental in the growth of the franchise over the years. It wasn’t an easy decision but one that has been well thought of and in the best interest of this wonderful franchise. The RCB family remains close to my heart as we continue to strive to achieve excellence. As I have mentioned previously in many occasions, I will only play for RCB until my retirement from the game of cricket.”
Captain Kohli will step out for his 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th #IPL game today. 🤩
Virat Kohli to step down from RCB captaincy after #IPL2021
“This will be my last IPL as captain of RCB. I’ll continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. I thank all the RCB fans for believing in me and supporting me.”: Virat Kohli#PlayBold#WeAreChallengerspic.twitter.com/QSIdCT8QQM
It would be really special if he could win the IPL trophy as Bangalore skipper and leaving on a high. His eight years journey as a skipper hasn’t been great, even though he had great players such as AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. Kohli has been the most successful Test and T20 captain of his country but hasn’t been able to win major trophies. Though he will be longer been a captain of the side, but this doesn’t mean that he will stop brining intensity and aggression onto the field.
RCB restart this season’s campaign today vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi.
Mohamed Salah’s journey from Nagrig village to Liverpool is source of inspiration for today’s youth. Salah hails from Nagrig, Gharbia, Egypt. While growing up, he was not good in studies but found his true calling in Football. During his younger days he used loving football matches on television and used to idolized several Arab footballers. He continues to hone his ability to play ball. He caught eye of local scouts from Contractors FC soccer club, El Mokawloon, based in Cairo because of his very agile and skilful in playing ball. This led to him being offered a contract immediately.
At 18 years, he graduated to be to the senior level of the academy’s club and skills started to increase and he made it into the main squad. Due to demonstration which caused clashes between members of the Freedom and Justice Party supported by the Muslim Brotherhood and anti-Mursi protesters, with led to at least seven people killed and hundreds injured. This led to Salah moved to Europe and started laying for a Swiss club, FC Basel. In April 2012, Salah signed a 4-year contract with the club. In the same year, he immediately debuted by playing in the European Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
In February 2014, Salah debuted with Chelsea against Newcastle United. But in that season, Salah had to return to Egypt to take part in compulsory military service for three years. Better sense prevailed the Egyptian government freed Salah from this obligation. He went on to play for clubs such as Italian club Fiorentina and AS Roma. His ability to increase makes several clubs attracted to this Egyptian player and in 2017 decided to join Liverpool for a fee of 50 million pounds. Mo Salah became the first Egyptian player in Liverpool’s uniform. He scored his debut goal vs Watford and was named Liverpool’s best player in August 2017.
The Egyptian footballer has successfully won the top scoring title and transformed into one of the most ferocious strikers in the Premier League, in Europe. Mohamed Salah has made more than 200 appearances for Liverpool and hiss impact at Liverpool has been immeasurable as his list of career achievements continues to grow. Today, Salah is the most popular player from Egypt who successfully broke into world football. Egyptians see Salah as a ray of hope for a nation which is battling with poverty and years of political turmoil. Liverpool Club has denied to release their star player Mohamed Salah for Egypt’s upcoming World Cup qualifying matches due to coronavirus restrictions, the country’s soccer association.
One of the reasons being Egypt is on Britain’s red list, as Salah would be required to quarantine post his return from Cairo and will miss two Premier League games. Egypt is all set to play Angola in Cairo on Sept. 2 before traveling to face Gabon three days later in Franceville. The association was quoted saying “continues its contacts with the FIFA …. to have international players be exempted from travel restrictions imposed on them in countries where they play due to coronavirus.”
The Egyptian federation also wished Salah to play for the national team at the Tokyo Olympics, but it the request was denied by Liverpool. As the Clubs are not obligated to release players for the men’s Olympic tournament. Salah has gone on to win twice the Premier League’s Golden Boot award. He had tested positive for the virus during a visit to Cairo in November, where he attended his brother’s wedding. At the time, he was to join the national team for its game against Togo. Liverpool is seeking to strike a new deal to keep Salah with the club.
India is a sports-loving nation and has a special space in India. We are blessed to have Word class athletes and players which has produced so many great sportsmen in every sport. In recent times Indian women athletes have amazed us by breaking the gender barrier and created a niche which inspired the future generation. Players like Sania Mirza, Mary Kom, Mithali Raj, Saina Nehwal, Geeta Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Deepa Malik, PV Sindhu, Dipa Karmakar, Mithali Raj to name a few have reached the top against odds and also made us proud by being trailblazers the best game-changers we will ever know. They have taught us to look beyond gender stereotypes and paved the way to empower us all.
Today we are all set to talk about inspirational story of a long jumper journey from Jhansi to Nairobi and made a promising career has been full of metaphorical uphill climbs. Shaili Singh has been trained by legendary athletes such as Robert Bobby George and Anju George, who are confident in her ability to win medals at the Olympics and Worlds in the next few years. The 17th year old life story will inspire the whole nation and has gone through own struggle from very early age and hails from Jhansi.
She was brought up by a single mother who learnt tailoring to earn a daily living, India’s new queen of long jump was quoted saying “It was a tough battle for my mother in the beginning. She had to raise three kids as a single parent. But all credit to her, she worked hard to support us. She is very strong,” Shaili was quoted saying “My mom convinced me before the final saying, ‘Nothing wrong will happen and you’ll win the gold’.” ‘Don’t worry (mom). I will win gold next time’ Shaili’s mother told her, “Don’t be tensed, it will all fall in place as (coach Robert Bobby George) sir is with you…. Don’t worry (mom). I will improve next time and win the gold.”
She went on to win silver post missing out on gold by a centimetre to Sweden’s Maja Askag at the World Athletics under-20 championships but established herself as a star to watch out for. Her first two attempt were not that great but edged her out in the fourth round by the narrowest of margins to eventually win the gold. Shaili’s previous best jump was 6.48m. Shaili’s winning the silver medal is the first long jump medal at the under-20 Worlds while Anju’s 2003 Worlds long jump bronze is India’s lone medal at the ‘senior’ Worlds. Her coach Bobby George was quoted saying “Shaili was brilliant. Of course, gold would have been prettier.”
She had to go through a lot trouble while growing up, sometimes used to run without shoes but fought with listers to compete in school-level competitions. There was time when family to have even three-square meals on the table. Shaili is takes inspiration from her mother and the first person she calls to update on results. She spoke about her bond with her mother and was quoted saying “My mother told me before the final not to worry. She expected me to win gold. Next time, I will win gold. I wanted to hear the National Anthem being played at the stadium. As she is a single mother, it was difficult for her but my mother looked after me, my sister, and my brother.”
National record-holder Anju expects Shaili to reach greater heights and win an Olympic medal for the country. Anju was quoted saying “She can improve on the national record (6.83 metres). Our main target for Shaili is to help her finish on the podium at the Olympic Games, which is the most valuable thing. If our trainee can win a medal, I will consider it as my own.
Shaili was inducted into the Lucknow Sports Hostel but her big break came after she caught Robert’s eye, even though she finished outside the medals and had no proper technique at the National Junior Athletics Championships in Vijayawada in 2017. A week later, Anju spotted her at the Inter-District Junior Championships, and the couple agreed they had found an athlete with the potential to become the next big star.
India is a sports-loving nation and cricket holds a very special space in India. We are blessed to have Word class athletes and players which has produced so many great sportsmen in every sport. Whenever the world basketball comes to our mind, our mind immediately identifies with 6-foot-tall American players competing for a ball and chasing their opponents. Though the sports have huge fan following across the world, but less popular in India. In recent times we have seen a change in the past three years have grown ever since the involvement of NBA in India.
The NBA entered our country in 2017 by setting up a basketball school in Mumbai. They went on to start the NBA academy in Greater Noida, NCR, and many other schools in New Delhi and Pune. Basketball is receiving a good reception in India, thanks to the influence of the NBA. In the past, we have seen some Indian players such as Satnam Singh, Amjyot Singh, Amritpal Singh, and Akilan Pari who have enjoyed successful spells in the big league. They have paved the way for younger generations to embrace the sport and bring glory to the country.
Princepal Singh has been playing in the NBA G League next season and the news was confirmed by president Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Princepal Singh stands at six feet 10 inch and became the first NBA Academy graduate to sign with the G League and first NBA Academy India graduate land a professional contract. Princepal started his journey at the Ludhiana Basketball Academy and joined The NBA Academy India in 2017. His hard work paid dividend and was The NBA Global Academy – which constitutes of top male and female athletes from outside the US – in Canberra, Australia, where he continued his development before graduating this spring.
Today the youngster Princepal Singh has etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Indian ever to be a part of an NBA title-winning team when his team Sacramento Kings winning the 2021 NBA Summer League title. The 6-foot-9 forward is the first Indian to be part of a championship roster at any level of the NBA. The Kings dominated the championship game vs the Boston Celtics, winning the title with a 100-67 win on Tuesday. “My coach asked me to play hard. We were told to play hard defensively. We didn’t try to outscore people, we tried to stop our opponents from scoring. A proper defensive strategy was the key to our success.”
He also spoke about his experience of playing with Kings, and was quoted saying, “It was really a nice experience for me. I learned a lot from all my professional teammates and the coaching staff. We were a great group of young guys who love to compete, play together and love to win.”
The situation in Afghanistan has got bad to worse. The condition has become so severe that Taliban insurgents have taken control of the key eastern city Jalalabad without a fight on Sunday, leaving the territory controlled by the crumbling government to little more than the capital Kabul. As per latest development, Afghanistan has 34 provinces has fallen to, or are being contested by the Islamist militants. Even Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have deserted the country on Sunday with four cars and a helicopter stuffed with cash.
However, Ghani took to social media and wrote, that he left the country in order to avoid “bloodshed” as Kabul fell to the Taliban and terrorists entered the Afghanistan presidential palace. He also said that the Taliban will be responsible for the “honour, wealth and preservation” of Afghanistan’s people. He also said the nation was faced with a “hard choice” between the “armed Taliban” or “leaving the dear country that dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years”.
As the Taliban is to return to power in Afghanistan, the country’s first female Mayor Zarifa Ghafari is living in fear for her life amid reports of targeted killings by the insurgents. While interacting with the media, “I’m sitting here waiting for them to come. There is no one to help me or my family. I’m just sitting with them and my husband. And they will come for people like me and kill me. I can’t leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?”
Few weeks ago, the first and youngest female mayor of the country’s Maidan Wardak province was quite confident of a better future for the country, however, her hopes has come crushing down. In the past, she had received death threats from the Taliban. Her father General Abdul Wasi Ghafari was gunned down by the militants on 15 November last year, just 20 days after the post attempt to kill her failed.
Ghafari has been hosting her own radio show and founding an NGO focused on empowering women economically. She has been taking care for the welfare of soldiers and civilians injured in terror attacks in Kabul. This was when the Taliban started to up their offensive for the takeover. While back, Ghafari was quoted saying “Younger people are aware of what’s happening. They have social media. They communicate. I think they will continue fighting for progress and our rights. I think there is a future for this country.”
Today, she feels helpless and is scared for her life and the safety of her family. However Tralibans has promised they won’t take revenge on people or officials working with the previous Afghan government, history from their past regime makes it difficult to trust the group. Women are very scared about the new government regime , as in the past the Taliban has been not in support of education for women, barred them from working and meted out barbaric punishments to them in the garb of justice.
Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story was one of the most loved webs shows across with the world. The Sony LIV web series Scam 1992 emerged as one of the most talked about and popular web shows in India and also had created another record by finding a place in IMDb’s list of the most popular web series and television serials of all times across the world. The show was special as it marked web debut of talented filmmaker Hansal Mehta who has made fabulous movies such as Shahid (2013), City lights (2014), Aligarh (2016) and Omertà (2018).’
The ace director once again mesmerised the audience from the comfort of their home by binging to life the story of one of the biggest financial scams in the Indian stock market has ever witnessed. The show featuring Pratik Gandhi who essayed the role of Harshad Mehta became an overnight star. The show released last year had achieved the feet of becoming the highest-rated Indian show to find its place in IMDb’s list of top 250 popular web series and television serials in the whole world. Today how is rated at 9.6 out of 10 at IMDb.
Actor Pratik Gandhi is excited to once again collaborate once again with filmmaker Hansal Mehta and all set to feature in a family drama. This time the duo has teamed up for a movie, which will be co-producing the movie along with T-Series – Chairman & Managing Director Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Shaailesh R Singh. The film is based out in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, and will be directed by Bose: Dead or Alive director Pulkit.
The news was confirmed by T Series took to social media and wrote “@pratikgandhiofficial & @khushalikumar come together for the first time for a family drama; a story of a common man’s struggle to fight for what’s rightfully his. Directed by @justpulkit, filming begins on 18th August.🎬”
Besides Prakit the movie will also feature Khushali Kumar, the daughter of late Gulshan Kumar. While interacting with the media, the director of the movie Pulkit was quoted saying “This film comes to me from a personal space and is very close to me. It is the story of a dignified struggle of a common man to get his land back. The story defines and revolves around a normal middle-class family and it deals with the system, power and the abused theory of law.”
Shaailesh R Singh, who jointly produces this film, says, “The story of this film sheds light on issues faced by several Indians. Our audiences will connect with this film in many ways. I am glad to be bringing this story on screen with Bhushanji and Hansalji who love telling stories that leave an impact on their audiences.”
The movie producer Bhushan Kumar said, “The story of this film is simple yet very real. This is the film that millions of people of our country will resonate with. I am glad Shaailesh, Hansal Mehta and I are again collaborating on such an interesting subject.”
Pratik and Khushali have already started prep work for the movie and the makers have zeroed down on the look for the film already.
On the profession front, Pratik who has predominantly worked in Gujarati cinema before Hansal Mehta’s “Scam 1992” made him overnight sensation all across the nation. He made his Hindi Cinema debut with “Loveyatri” and is currently busy shooting for a starring role in the upcoming horror comedy “Atithi Bhooto Bhava”.
India is a sports-loving nation and has a special space in India. We are blessed to have Word class athletes and players which has produced so many great sportsmen in every sport. It also plays a crucial part in our life as helps to reduce stress and also builds healthy bones and muscles, increases fitness, boosts self-confidence and above all lowers the risk of getting obese. Hockey is one of the most popular sports in our country and hold a special place in the hearts of the people. In recent times Indian women athletes have amazed us by breaking the gender barrier and created a niche which inspired the future generation.
Dronacharya Awardee coach Baldev Singh is one of the most respected and hold a special place in the hearts of the players. Over the years he has built a reputation of being g hard working and determined coach who has given India many talented players. During his coaching career he has trained more the 80 plus player such as former drag-flicker and current Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh, Indian women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal, Didar Singh, Sanjeev Kumar Dang, Harpal Singh and Navjot Kaur.
Among his trained player as many as many as five Arjuna Awardees – Rani Rampal, Jasjeet Kaur Handa, Surinder Kaur, Ritu Rani and Sandeep Singh. As well as eight of his students have gone on to captain the national side. He was quoted saying that “I’m really satisfied to see that I was able to train players, who went on to serve the country with distinction. I don’t wish to take all the credit for their success, as they have pulled in the hard yards to reach where they are now. It’s a happy feeling to realise the fact that I have managed to contribute to Indian hockey.”
He has been coaching for the past 40 years and age is catching up with him as he has suffered a heart attack while back. It was his role as the head coach of the Shahabad Hockey Academy in Haryana for a for 23 years from 1992 to 2015. /During his stint with the team he helped and honed the skills of talented players such as Rani Rampal, Surinder Kaur, Ritu Rani to name a few of them. He has closely associated with the Namdhari Hockey Team for 10 years post starting his career as a coaching journey in 1982 post completing his Coaching Diploma from NIS Patiala. He was also conferred with the Dronacharya Award in 2009.
Baldev who had retired from the Sports Department of the Haryana government. spoke very highly about his favourite student and was quote saying “Rani is cool as a cucumber and is very disciplined. She has no bad habits and takes her hockey seriously and is in love with it. It was a joy training her.” Baldev Singh was God-sent to make that history richer and more diverse. In the Olympics the women team entertained the country for 60 minutes and during this time Baldev couldn’t be reached. But we are sure he must be soaking in the historical moment from his home in Ludhiana. Thought Women’s hockey team could not win the medal at the Tokyo Olympics but achieved something bigger and they have inspired the country with their lion-hearted performance vs Great Britain.
It gave Baldev every reason to be just with himself and his hard work in Shahabad was reaping rich dividends on the biggest stage of them all. His grit and determination have given more than 70 international stars from the small town. But it was Baldev important role which created the engine that propelled women’s hockey in the country. Baldev was strict task master and would start training at 5 am and if someone was late, they would be fined heavily. But soon result started pouring in and Shahabad was the team to beat but it was rare to happen. It was his dream to make Shahabad into India’s nursery which churned out international players. Baldev would go to lengths unheard of.
There used to be a lot financial constraint and as a result travelling to tournament became impossible. But didn’t let the Baldev down instead he found a way by selling his car and bought a truck. He went on to add a seat and arranged in a way to fit the whole team to accommodate in it. Witnessing such act of generosity, few of the parents came forward to help the coach. One of them being Navneet Kaur’s father, Buta Singh, who came forward to provide his assistance in handling academy paperwork as well as ensuring that the players-maintained discipline. Though Navneet was junior to Rani by 6 years at the academy and it was part of the team in Tokyo, along with Navjot Kaur as the third player from Shahabad.
Besides his crucial role at the Shahabad academy, he has held various coaching roles with India’s men and women national teams.
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