Punjab Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Wednesday lauded the State’s efforts in ameliorating its presence on the sporting landscape in India.
“Greetings to everyone. Thank you for inviting me here and allowing me to speak at this Sportstar Sports Conclave,” Meet Hayer said during Sportstar’s Sports Conclave - Focus Punjab in Chandigarh.
“In 1950, Punjab got 15 medals in the Asian Games, but it was a tournament with only six countries participating. In 2023, Punjab has 20 medals from 32 players. We are all so proud of these athletes for going abroad on big stages and making the state proud.
“Punjab is a state with a rich history, not just in sports. When the nation was attacked at the Gateway of India, the people coming to the forefront were Punjabis. We have a long history of contributions to the Armed Forces and law and order services. In sports too, for a very long time, we contributed immensely to the country’s sporting achievements and were number one. Now, this Asian Games performance is an indication that Punjab is heading back to the top,” he added.
Meet Hayer shed light on the State’s sports policy and its priorities. “Punjab introduced a sports policy recently, and I can guarantee that no other state has one like this. We conducted meetings over the last six months with federations and associations across the sporting spectrum to come up with this policy,” he said. “We focused on three broad aspects. If a player brings home an international medal at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, or other major competitions, we set aside a fund of 75 crores to honour them, secure their future, and give them a job.”
Finding talent
Meet Hayer also highlighted the talent-grooming system. “Talent identification and focused training are another aspect to focus on. I met the honourable sports minister Shri Anurag Thakur recently and also got to meet with sports ministers from various other states. I was curious to know what they’re doing in talent identification and training, and I didn’t seem to get an answer that was satisfactory to help the situation in Punjab,” he said.
“As a child, I was very interested in cricket. I used to play football as well. In athletics too, I would win 100m gold medals constantly. Back then, a district association for cricket was not there in Barnal. That has changed over the last few years. So for kids aged 7–10, if the trials are far away from where they stay, there’s no chance their parents will take them over. If I had a trial in Barnal, I would have been able to go by bicycle. The one gap we see is a lack of trials in Punjab. Barnala, Bhatinda, and Hoshiarpur—these are all areas we can tap talent from. So over the last year, we discussed with the coaches in federations to keep trials over a span of a month and a half. Another aspect is that it is not compulsory that we get the best talent on one day. Some talented kids might not be able to make it to the trial, might be ill on the day of the trial, or have something else not go their way. So we decided that the way forward is to strengthen sports nurseries across the state so that talent is identified and nurtured over a considerable period of time.”
There is a caveat though, said the Sports Minister.
“We should also not hold random trials in random places just because some dignitary or MLA comes to request us. We need to see what kind of talent is coming from a place and hold trials for that sport there. It cannot be without a plan or purpose. If Sansarpur is showing good talent in hockey, we need the hockey nursery to be here.
“If Chakar is throwing up promising boxers, then we should hold the boxing nursery there. As a department, we’ve focused on collecting that data—numbers of what kind of participation in varied sports is coming out of the different parts of this state. This will come as a surprise to you. Roller skating as a sport is something you’d expect to be popular in big cities like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, or Mohali. But the biggest participation in this state comes from Fatehgarh Sahib. So that will influence our decision to form a nursery for this sport.
“If you look at the governments of the past, if the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games come in an election year, you’ll see medallists getting DSP postings and cash awards. If it’s not an election year, neither the job nor the money will come. Now it is a matter of policy that those preparing for international competitions have a guarantee of jobs if they medal at events.
Punjab has a lot of talent. We just need to ensure the platform is as good as possible.”
The conclave was held in association with Hero Motocorp, Indian Oil, Punjab Government, Great Sports Tech, KPMG, and NewsX.
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