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| Sports & Cultural Activities |
In the annals of Indian sports, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, has a unique distinction due to the remarkable achievements of two of their outstanding
sportsmen. In the 20th century, India won two World
championships, the World Cup hockey title in Kuala Lumpur in
1975 and in England in 1983, the much coveted cricket World
cup crown. Remarkably, SGTB Khalsa College is the only
institution in the country, which had representatives in the
playing eleven of both the World Cup winning squads. Ashok
Dewan was a student at College, when he represented India as
a goalkeeper in the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur and
foiled the marauding Pakistani forwards in the final to
enable India snatch a historic 2-1win. Mohinder Amarnath who
studied in College in the 1970s, was man of the match in
both the semi finals and final of the 1983 Prudential trophy
against England and West Indies respectively, which India
won.
Through the passing years, College has produced several international sportspersons who have excelled for India in
their various sports. The College has four Arjuna award
recipients. The first to be bestowed this honour was gymnast
Shyam Lal (1961), who represented India in the 1956
Melbourne and 1960 Rome Olympics. Weightlifter Dalbir Singh
represented India in the 1974 Tehran and 1978 Bangkok Asian
Games got the Arjuna award in 1975. Next to get this coveted
award was cricketer Mohinder Amarnath in 1981. Shot-putter
Vijay Mala Bhanot (represented India in the 1982 and 1986
Asian Games) who joined College in the mid-eighties for
post-graduate studies got the Arjuna Award in 2001 for life
time contribution to her sport.
Another outstanding sportswoman Kiran Sandhu, represented the India in the Asian Basketball championships for nearly a
decade in the 1970s. In the 1950s, we produced reputed
international volleyball players.
Mohan Singh and Kuldeep Singh who played in test matches against visiting countries. In weightlifting Inder Mohan
Singh in the mid-eighties, attended a pre-Olympic national
training camp.
In 1986-87, three of our hockey players Vimal, Harendra Singh and Satinder Sharma were chosen for the Combined
Universities tour of the German Democratic Republic.
Defender Harendra Singh became a senior international in
1989 and was a silver medalist in the 1990 Beijing Asian
Games.
In sports administration, also some of our former sportsmen are making their presence felt. Harish Sharma is the dynamic
secretary of the Basketball Federation of India. Volleyball
player Kuldeep Vats has helped to revive the sport in the
capital, as president of the Delhi Volleyball Association.
Hockey player Harendra Singh was assistant coach of the
national team in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and has also
coached the junior Indian hockey team to victory in the 5th
Junior Asia Cup in Karachi in August 2004.
During the initial years Khalsa won inter-college titles in volleyball (both men and women), cross country, gymnastics
and table tennis (women). In the late sixties and early
seventies, Khalsa won the inter-college Cross-Country title
for six years in a row. We won the inter-college title in
hockey for the first time in the 1970s and since then have
been champions a dozen times. In women's table tennis we
bagged a hat-trick of inter-college title sin the
mid-eighties. Recently we won the Handball and Kho-Kho
titles seven years in a row. In 1988-89 we won the
Inter-College cricket title for the first time and since
then we have been triumphant on four occasions. Khalsa has
also been inter-college champions in Badminton, women's
handball, weightlifting, athletics and swimming.
In the 1990s the sports infrastructure was further improved by the construction of the Sant Harchand Singh Longowal
Sports Complex, with facilities for indoor sports, a
pavilion, a gymnasium and offices. Outdoor basketball and
volleyball courts were also constructed.
Pritam Singh was our first Sports teacher and established sports culture in College. For brief periods in the sixties,
others who served as Sports teachers were Ms. Iqbal Claire
(a former student who won the Long Jump in the
Inter-University meet), Ranbir Singh, Ms. Geeta Bhatt and
Ms. Hardarshan Kaur Bains. Mrs. Gurdeep Khanna joined in the
mid-sixties. In 1968-69 when Pritam Singh shifted to the
University of Delhi as a Sports officer, a former student
and Volleyball captain Pargat Singh took over as sports
teacher in College. Pargat worked tirelessly to ensure that
when College shifted to its new premises the rocky terrain
near the building was transformed into lush green
playfields. In 1984 Mrs. Parveen Kaur Sahni, the current
head of the Sports Department joined in place of Mrs.
Khanna. |
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