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The senior champions Jumit Jugut Gauta, Jhapandanga, worthy winners pose with the Championship trophy. Bir Bahadur Chhetri, Bharati Divgikar and Paramjit Kaur Bhattacharya look on.
A 5-a-side womens’ hockey tournament in Kolkata was organized on the Khalsa English School artificial TIGER TURF from the 29th to the 31st March 2013 by Mrs. Paramjit Kaur Bhattacharya and NGO BHARANI (run by Ms Bharati Divgikar, ex-banker from Mumbai which runs a series of schools and homes for underprivileged physically and mentally challenged children in and around Kolkata). There were sixteen participating teams divided into two categories of eight teams each, Seniors (Elite) and Juniors (novices).
The teams in the junior (novice) category were Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School, Dhyanchand Hockey Academy Howrah, Sishu Vikas Kendra and Shanti Sangha Siksha Mandir Parnashree in group A and Bharani Junior, Thunderbirds, Howrah Hockey Training Centre and Future Hope in Group B vying for honours in the Surinder Memorial Cup.
The teams in the senior (elite) category were Jumit Jugut Gauta from Jhapandanga near Gurap, a tribal womens’ team and arguably the best women’s team in Bengal at the moment, Nadia District Hockey Association, Kanaipur Sriguru High School, an OTHL team and Jagrihi Club from Behala Kolkata in Group A and Bharani, St Xavier’s High School, Howrah Hockey Training Centre and Behala Sports Association in Group B slugging it out for honours in the Surjit Memorial Cup.
The first day (29th March 2013) in the Junior Group A league matches saw Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School drubbing Shanti Sangha Siksha Mandir 7-0 before the Shanti girls could get a proper feel of the artificial turf, Sishu Vikas Kendra swamping Dhyan Chand Hockey Academy 5-1, Childrens’ Welfare Home thumping Sishu Vikas Kendra 3-0, Shanti Sangha beating Dhyanchand Hockey Academy 2-0 and Childrens’ Welfare Home making it a turkey shoot with a 11-0 score against Dhyanchand Hockey Training Centre Howrah with Sishu Vikas Kendra holding Shanti Sangha 1-1, thereby spoiling Shanti Sangha’s hopes of reaching the semifinals on goal average. The qualifying teams in this group were the Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School and the Sishu Vikas Kendra, both coached by the great octagenerian coach Inderjit Singh, the first NIS Coach of Kolkata.
In the Senior (elite) section, Jumit Jugut Gauta from Jhapandanga, Burdwan beat Kanaipur Sriguru High School, Rishra 3-1, Nadia District Hockey Association pipped Jagrihi Club 1-0, Jumit Jugut Gauta thrashed Jagrihi 5-0, Nadia District Hockey Association pasted Kanaipur Sriguru High School 4-1, Jumit Jugut Gauta thumped Nadia District Hockey Association 5-1 and Jagrihi beat Kanaipur Sriguru High School 1-0 in an inconsequential but closely fought encounter. Jumit Jugut Gauta Jhapandanga and Nadia District Hockey Association qualified for the semifinals.
On the second day, 30th March 2013, in the Juniors category Group B league, Future Hope outclassed Howrah Hockey Training Centre 5-0, while Bharani Juniors had a target practice against greenhorns Thunderbirds 11-0. Then, Future Hope added to Thunderbirds’ woes by beating them 6-0, Bharani Juniors beat Howrah Hockey Training Centre 8-0, and then Howrah Hockey Training Centre beat Thunderbirds 7-0. In the second half, the apparently down and out Thunderbirds appeared to come to life with some resolute defending, suddenly having come to life on the artificial turf. In the last match of the group B league, Bharani Juniors edged out Future Hope 2-1. Bharani Juniors and Future Hope qualified for the semifinals.
In the Senior category Group B league, Bharani beat St Xavier 3-0. Shabana Khatoon of Bharani looked unbeatable. Howrah Hockey Training Centre beat Behala Sports Association 2-1 in an evenly balanced and hard fought encounter. In the third match, the Behala Sports Association was held to a 1-1 draw by St Xavier, which proved costly for the former as it robbed them of a semifinal berth. In the fourth match, Bharani beat Howrah Hockey Training Centre by an unexpected margin of 8-0. Shabana Khatoon and Rezina Khatoon excelled once again. In the fifth match, Bharani beat Behala Sports Association 2-1. In the last match of the day, Howrah Hockey Training Centre beat St Xavier 6-2 with one self goal and two goals from Amapreet Kaur of St Xavier. Bharani and Howrah Hockey Training Centre qualified for the semifinals.
On the third and final day, 31st March 2013, in the Junior category semifinals, Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School beat Future Hope (coached by an English coach) 5-2 and Bharani Juniors thumped Sishu Vikas Kendra 9-0, setting the stage for a final encounter between Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School and Bharani Juniors, both coached by Inderjit Singh. This alone states the greatness of the octogenarian coach who has produced a string of national and international players from Bengal, including Bir Bahadur Chhetri, the 1980 Olympic Gold medallist and Baljit Singh Saini, who represented India in the 1994 Atlanta Olympics.
In the senior category, the first semifinal between Bharani and Nadia District Hockey Association was easily the match of the tournament. The full time score was 3-3. After a tie breaker, the score was 4-4. Thereafter, the issue was settled in sudden death in which Kaveri Pradhan made it 5-4 for Bharani, putting an end to the nail biting encounter. In the second semifinal, Jumit Jugut Gauta of Jhapandanga romped home with a 11-2 finish against Howrah Hockey Training Centre. Experienced national level player Minu Khatoon could hardly figure out what hit the Howrah team while Anjali Soren, Madhuri Tudu and Mausami Mandi were at their unstoppable best.
The final matches were played on the same day at 3 pm. The notable attendees included Bir Bahadur Chhetri, the 1980 Moscow Olympic hero, Gurbux Singh, the Tokyo Olympics Gold winning team captain, veteran coach Ashok Pal, former national and Port Trust player and founder of the Howrah Hockey Training Centre, Shanti Mullick, the Arjuna Awardee in football cum former Bengal player in Hockey, Kuntal Ghoshdastidar former Bengal and India international footballer and Deep Bhattacharya the Tollywood and TV star. While Bharani Juniors and Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School fought neck to neck, the former took an early lead. The final score was 6-5 in favour of Bharani Juniors.
Bharani juniors, the junior champions sitting with the championship trophy.
The Senior category final produced some highly skilful hockey which was a treat for the eyes of a hockey lover like this author. The jet fast girls of Junit Jugut Gauta Jhapandanga raided the Bharani citadel from the word go but the Bharani girls defended resolutely and produced counter moves. However, physical maturity and tactical superiority born out of experience told heavily in favour of the Jhapandanga girls and the ultimate result was 7-1. Mausami Mandi, Madhushri Tudu, Anjali Soren et al scored for Jhapandanga while Kaberi Pradhan scored the lone goal for Bharani. The scoreline was, however, not a true indication of the match as the Bharani girls fought every inch of the game. Puja Bag of Jhapandanga was chosen the man of the match.
In the junior category, Payel Roy of Childrens’ Welfare Home Primary School was adjudged the most promising player of the tournament and Mampi Roy of Bharani Junior emerged the highest scorer.
In the senior category, the best player award went to Madhushri Tudu while the highest scorer award was bagged by Mausami Mandi. Everthing said and done, the players who caught the eye of hockey buffs, including yours truly, were Anjali Soren of Jhanapdanga, Prity Poddar of Nadia and Shabana Khatoon and Rezina Khatoon of Bharani.
Paramjit Kaur Bhattacharya, a tall and soft spoken lady in her mid fifties who once represented Bengal and was member of the runner up team in the nationals and is at present Assistant Commissioner in the Customs, has been persistently involved in the upliftment of Womens’ Hockey in Bengal. She also finds time to teach yoga at the All Bengal Womens’ Union Welfare Home at Elliot Road. She also happens to be the niece of Inderjit Singh, the grandfather hockey coach of Kolkata.
Ms Bharati Divgikar, ex India basketball international player and retired banker, coming from a family of international swimmers in Mumbai, is the moving force behind the NGO BHARANI, which has been organizing this tournament for the last four years in Kolkata. Ironically, most of the help she gets for organizing this tournament comes from Mumbai. One can only hope that this spirit of volunteerism comes to Kolkata and the sport administrators in the statutory state run body supposed to administer hockey in West Bengal take a leaf out of her book of willingness for doing something positive.
As a providential testimony to the selflessness and honesty of purpose of these two ladies, the weather gods in Kolkata remained kind and provided cloudy skies and even some rain on the Tiger Turf on the second day, making it conducive to a feast of lovely hockey for every hockey lover for three consecutive days. It appears hockey in Kolkata and Bengal is destined to survive.
