This village stadium grooms international hockey players

Lucknow: As Indian colts start their Junior Hockey World Cup campaign on Wednesday at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to defend the crown they won in Lucknow in 2016, UP has the lion’s share again with five of its players making it to the squad. These players include Rahul Kumar Rajbhar, Uttam Singh, Vishnu Kant Singh, Prashant Kumar Chauhan and Shardanand Tiwari.Of these, Rahul Rajbhar and Uttam Singh, come from Karampur, a remote village in Ghazipur district in Purvanchal region, which has become a hub of hockey over the years.
The two players give credit of their success to their mentor, late Tej Bahadur Singh, who founded Meghbaran Singh Stadium in the village which has produced world-class talent, including Lalit Upadhyay, who was the lone hockey player from the state to participate in the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year. Starting off with limited resources, hockey enthusiast Tej Bahadur, brother of former MP Radhey Mohan Singh, started training children in the ’80s with a bamboo stick on a ground belonging to his family. Later, he developed a stadium, Meghbaran Singh Stadium, on the ground and planted grass, brought from Sarnath, on the ground. His dream of an astroturf finally came true in 2015 and the facility was inaugurated in 2016. Today, the stadium is well-equipped with astroturf and modern facilities and has produced 14 international players. Tej Bahadur died of Covid-19 in April this year. Uttam Singh, who is in Bhubaneswar to take part in the Junior Hockey World Cup, recalls: “I started my journey from Meghbaran Singh Stadium in 2010-11 after which I went to Ludhiana Hostel (2011-12), Patiala Hostel (2013-15) and then to SAI Centre in Lucknow (2015 onwards).” “My family’s financial condition was not good. Teju bhaiyya (Tej Bahadur) arranged hockey sticks and kits for me. He even used to pay for the conveyance that I had to spend on my daily commuting,” he adds.
Rahul Rajbhar, who also started from Meghbaran Singh Stadium in 2010, says: “I joined Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow, in 2013 and stayed there till 2017. I joined IAF in 2017 and now represent the Services. Even when I was in Lucknow, Teju bhaiyya used to help me whenever I visited my village. He treated us like his family,” he says. Besides giving training to children, Tej Bahadur would provide food to them and also organise tournaments. Olympian Lalit Upadhyay says, “After passing my intermediate, I enrolled myself at Meghbaran Singh College for graduation in 2012. The college belongs to Tej Bahadur’s family. During my graduation days, I used to practice at the stadium and also played for the Purvanchal University team.” Coach Inderdeo, who has been training players at the stadium since 1989, says: “Teju bhaiyya was very fond of hockey. He roped me in while I was playing at university level. Besides Uttam and Rahul, the stadium has also produced Olympian Lalit Upadhyay, 14 international players and 70-80 national level players. Ajit Pandey, who played in the 2016 Junior World Cup in 2016, also belongs to our stadium.”