Sports persons of Indian origin have been winning laurels for new countries of their abode in the XXI Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia.
On Friday, when New Zealand beat India 3-2 in the first semi-final of men's section in hockey competition, it was led by Arun Panchia of Indian origin. His brother, Jared, too, is representing New Zealand.
Twentynine-year-old Arun Panchia has represented New Zealand in 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympic Games as well. And Gold Coast has been his third Commonwealth Games. Known to hockey players and fans as "Magic", Arun Panchia is a midfielder. Besides Arun and Jared playing for New Zealand, there are two other pairs of brothers of Indian origin playing in Gold Coast.
They are Panesar and Preira brothers of Canada. Balraj Panesar and Sukhpal Panesar play for United Brothers of British Columbia. Besides Panesar brothers, there are Preira brothers - Brandon and Keegan - who too have been regular in Canada's field hockey team.
Panchia brothers are now confident of carrying home a minimum of silver medal each from Gold Coast as their team has entered the final. Canada, on the other hand, would be playing for seventh and eighth position.
Other than Panchia, Panesar and Preira brothers, there are several other sports persons representing England, New Zealand and Australia here.
Badminton player Rajiv Ouseph is a veteran badminton player of England. He has represented England and Great Britain in Olympics. World Championships and Commonwealth games. In Gold Coast, he was a member of the bronze medalist combined team of England In individual events, he qualified for Friday's quarter-finals.
Akash Khullar, who comes from Jandiala in Punjab, represented New Zealand in wrestling competition. Twentyseven-year-old Akash lost in semi-finals in 74 kg category after winning his quarter-final bout against Jean Frederic.
Only woman of India origin to represented Australia in the Gold Coast games is wrestler Rupinder Kaur Sandhu, who also hails from the Majha belt. Thirtytwo-year-old Rupinder represented Australia in Glasgow Commonwealth games also. She is competing in 50 kg category.
