From flying kites to holding a hockey stick for India!
Junior Indian hockey team’s defender Sharda Nand has been a discovery of Khan and his wife
LUCKNOW: The new face in the Indian junior men team’s defence Sharda Nand Tiwari would have continued flying kits at the grounds of the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium even now had the then girls’ hostel coach Neelam Siddiqui not convinced him to play hockey.
After some initial hiccups, Tewari, son of one of the drivers at the district magistrate’s office which is in front of the stadium, agreed to hold the sticks in his hands.
He kept learning the nuances of the game and within a few months he shifted his playing venue to the CB Gupta Ground where the routine activities of the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Society have been going on for the last many years.
However, that decision changed his fortunes as only last week Tewari made it to the 18-member Indian team for the 9th Sultan of Johor Cup beginning October 12 in Malaysia.
“From kite flying in Lucknow to Malaysia has been the success journey of Tewari and I hope that he will prove his mettle in style,” his coach Rashid Aziz Khan said.
“My wife (Neelam) and I always try to look for new talents and Tewari is the true example of this,” said Khan, who has been a senior coach of the Sports Authority of India, and looking after the day boarding and come and play scheme at the CB Gupta Ground here. “We have many players here in the training whom we convinced for the game,” added Khan.
The key reason for success of Tewari was his discipline, dedication to the game and an extra enthusiasm to learn. “He (Tewari) was just eight when he began playing under my training in 2008 and there was no looking back then as he kept doing wonders in the state and all-India events and finally got selected at the SAI’s regional centre here in 2016.”
In fact, Tewari isn’t the first one from the Babu Society’s training scheme who could make it to the Indian squad. There were others like Amit Prabhakar, Kamlesh Parihar, Vivek Dhar, Siddharth Shanker, Vijay Thapa, Kamla Rawat and Kavita Maurya too made it to the national teams and camps.
“Every season 5-6 players from our centre play at the nationals, and the centre has become the feeder of talents to various SAI centres in the country as well as state governmentrun hostels,” said Khan, 55, who himself has been the gold medallist at the sub-junior nationals of the past.
“My passion for the sport kept me inspiring and before joining the SAI I did my NIS training from Bengaluru and for this I had to leave by business,” he recalled.
In fact, watching Rashid imparting training to 60-odd kids, including girls, at the CB Gupta ground is a treat to watch.
Most of the trainees come from poor background and even four of a family of ‘Paan Wala’, who runs his shop adjacent to the ground, don’t miss their daily training.
“My mission to train kids here is to help them get selected in some hostels or hockey centres across the country, help them become good human beings and earn name and fame for themselves and their family.”
“Other than the players of day boarding scheme and come and play, the society helps the poor kids with sticks, T-shirts and even hockey shoes.”
Khan’s mission is very well supported by a few hockey enthusiasts as one of the relatives of one former hockey player Shiraj Khan donated 50 pair of shoes to society players, whereas another railway officer gifted 10 pairs of shoes, hockey stick and even T-shirts to the players recently.
“Even I carry 2-3 stick in my car when I come for daily training here as I know that many such players don’t have their own sticks to play the game,” said Khan, whose coaching scheduled starts at 4pm and continues till the dawn of the sun without any interruptions.
Here the kids sometime run the grass cutting machine on their own to maintain the ground as it’s not meant exclusively for the game of hockey as being the property of the National College, regular activities of cricket, football and even some times athletics do happen here on behalf of the inter and degree college.
Fascination for the game among the trainees here is such that kids aged between 4 to 25 years come to the venue, paddling cycles from remote areas, located at the outskirts of the state capital. “There has been a motivation to achieve something in your life to everyone and that keeps driving this bunch of youth to come and play here,” he added.
The centre has five trainee of the SAI’s day boarding scheme, who gets Rs 600 per month for 10 months in a year, besides getting kits etc, whereas the players under the come and play scheme pay Rs 125 per month.
“Many from this centre have become coaches also after doing NIS courses. In my 13 years career here with the centre, I have seen around 50 players getting selected for various hostels and centres in the country.”
HOWEVER, THAT DECISION CHANGED HIS FORTUNES AS ONLY LAST WEEK TEWARI MADE IT TO THE 18-MEMBER INDIAN TEAM FOR THE 9TH SULTAN OF JOHOR CUP BEGINNING OCTOBER 12 IN MALAYSIA