- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
SEVA Trust UK (India), a charitable non-governmental organisation which is working in northern Indian states of Haryana and Punjab on issues such as education, health, environment and social welfare, recently organised a special event at Markandeshwar Hockey Stadium in Shahabad in Kurukshetra district of Haryana to honour the country’s hockey coaches and young players.
The body launched ‘Healthy Communities, Healthy India’ campaign a few months ago to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, which is an initiative taken by the Indian government to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of the country’s independence gained on August 15, 1947, from British rule.
The aim of the campaign is to support disadvantaged children and local communities. The event to felicitate the hockey coaches and players was part of their ongoing campaign to support and uplift young players from disadvantaged communities.
Lieutenant Vikramjit Singh attended the event as the chief guest along with Naresh Mittal, chairman of SEVA Trust, and hockey coach Naresh Sharma.
Lt. Singh said on the occasion that the stadium where the event was held has given a hockey star like Sardar Sandeep Singh who is currently serving as the sports minister of Haryana; Rani Rampal, the woman hockey player who led India at the Tokyo Olympics last year; Surender Kaur, an international hockey player and many others who have made India proud.
“It is really important we continue to support our young players who can play hockey at the highest level,” he said.
Mittal said that in addition to offering health support, SEVA Trust is providing educational support and will offer necessary support to the young hockey players.
Besides Sharma, coaches such as Virender, Gurbaz Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, KK Chaudhary, Ravinder Singh, Kanwar Pal and Surinder Wadhwa were also honoured by SEVA Trust. One-hundred and ninety hockey players were also honoured.
On behalf of co-sponsor Dabur India Limited, SEVA Trust distributed Dabur’s immunity booster kits and gift packs to all the hockey coaches and the players.
Apart from Trust volunteers’ team lead Rahul Gulati, regional e-learning coordinator and Krishna, Pawan Parashar, CA Vagish Sharma, Rakesh Vohra, Piyush Garg and Jassar Kesari were also present at the event.
The Indian men’s hockey team won bronze at the Tokyo Games last year, ending medal drought in the game they had dominated once at the mega event after 41 years. The women’s team also came very close to winning a medal but finished fourth, a feat which was also repeated after 1980.
