Second day into the 23rd Winter Olympic Games in the mountainous PyeongChang in South Korea
Second day into the 23rd Winter Olympic Games in the mountainous PyeongChang in South Korea, still there is no sign of Punjabi flavour. Known for their quick adaptability and tremendous corporal endurance, the global Punjabi community, has not taken fancy to winter sports. Canada is a strong contender for gold medals, both in men's and women's sections here. But neither men nor women team has any player of Punjabi origin. Look at Canada's men's field hockey team. It is never complete without a Punjabi boy in it. Why not in Ice Hockey? Interestingly, no other sporting event appears complete without Punjabi "tadka". Though nearly 3000 athletes from 95 nations are here, there is hardly any one of Punjabi origin. There are four South Asians, including India's Shiva Keshavan, competing here. Besides Shiva, born to Indian father and Italian mother, there is Jagdish Singh in cross country skiing, representing India. And then there are two Pakistanis. If one looks at track record of Punjabi immigrants, they have done very well, making a mark for themselves, in the new countries of their residence.From trade, business, industry, agriculture, education, technology and politics, besides others, they have scripted many success stories. Punjabis are credited with taking field hockey across all five continents but coming to Ice Hockey, they appear to be very late starters. Last month, when Canada's most successful and celebrated woman hockey player, Hayley Wickenheiser, came to India build a women's hockey team, she went to Let and Ladakh and not Punjab. She was there for almost a fortnight and hopes to take Indian women's Ice Hockey team to Canada to participate in a Hockey Festival. With a mandate to make the Wickenheiser Women World Hockey Festical (Wickfest) tournament accessible to teams even in the most remote parts of the world, Hayley Wickenheiser considers the progress of humanity as a social responsibility and she is using hockey as the medium through which to unite the world and bring people together though sport. With the facilitation of Team India’s participation in WickFest, she and her team are tapping in to a nation which boasts a population of 1.324 billion and uniting it with a community that is among the largest visible minority presences here in Canada. This initiative also allows Canada to lead by example as a country that sets the global bar for equality and empowerment of women. But when we come to men, Punjabi immigrants, who have made a mark in winter sports in general and Ice Hockey in particular, are countable on finger tips. Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi, for example, has made Harnarayan Singh a popular name not only in Canada but worldwide. Singh, whose great-grandfather one was one the first Sikhs to immigrate to Canada, says he'd always dreamed of becoming a hockey announcer. "You know, I was obsessed with the sport, and you know, growing up in a small town in southern Alberta where there wasn't any other visible minorities, hockey was the icebreaker for me amongst my classmates," he recalls. Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi has helped spread the sport in the country's large Punjabi community. After English and French, it's the next most common language in Canada. "People find that they have have more camaraderie amongst their colleagues at work because they're able to participate in those conversations about last night's game," he told an interviewer, saying "We also have amongst the immigrant families, and the grandkids born here have a natural inclination to liking hockey. And because of the broadcasts now in Punjabi, they're able to understand the game and three generations are watching hockey together, it's a tradition now in their family household." Harnarayan Singh attended broadcasting school in Canada to become a hockey announcer. "It's amazing, I mean it proves that it's not just fun and entertaining, it's bridging the gap between immigrants and their new country, and it's a great way to show how multiculturalism can work," he says. Like Singh, many in sports hope to see Punjabi players in the NHL as they have done in NBL. Minorities of any kind are a rarity in typical North American sports , but there is already an uptick of young Punjabi kids signing up for ice hockey, basketball and baseball. There is Jhujhar Khaira, a 24-year-old 6'4" Punjabi boy playing for Edmonton Oliers as a Left winger.Another youngster Akash Bains is also knocking at doors of NHL after playing for Everett Silver Tips Hockey Club. S. Khaira is another Punjabi youngster on the horizon. Incidentally they all come from British Columbia. Will 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing see Punjabi "tadka" ?
