Jagjit Singh: Sports legend giving a taste of his tongue on the current hockey team

Jagjit Singh is not a stranger in the Malaysia’s hockey arena. During his nine years of being a national hockey player, the nation had achieved many glorious successes that have not been achieved by the current hockey team.

It all started in 1961 in the city of Ipoh (212 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur).Jagjit was born and raised in a traditional Punjabi Sikh family of six who had the passion for hockey. “I picked up my hockey stick when I was three and my dad Chet Singh, taught me at that time” said Jagjit. His grew up admiring Ties Kruize who is a hockey legend from Netherlands and dubbed as “Thor” in the field of hockey. After years of practice from his dad, Jagjit played for his school, Anglo Chinese School at the age of eleven. “Playing for the school definitely gave me a lot of exposure as I could learn the tactics and strategies of different players from different teams” added Jagjit.

After years of exposure playing for schools, Jagjit got his first major hockey tournament in 1981 where he was selected to represent the state of Perak. The tournament was held in the month of June and all teams from all around Malaysia and Singapore participated in it. “It was definitely a good feeling” said Jagjit.  The following year, Jagjit received the offer to join the Malaysian hockey team playing the position of a full back and he was trained under Malaysia’s famous hockey coach and former hockey player, Dato R. Yogeswaran. “That was definitely a golden opportunity that I could not say no to” said Jagjit.

At 1982, Jagjit played his first international tournament at the Hockey Asia Cup in Karachi, Pakistan. In this tournament, the Malaysian team managed to get the fourth place. “After that tournament, we played in four more international tournaments in the same year” said Jagjit.

The highlight of Jagjit’s career would be when his team represented Malaysia for the 1984, Summer Olympics at Los Angeles. There, the Malaysian team, managed to get the 11^th position and they defeated the home team by four goals. “It was definitely a great experience getting to play at the best sporting event in the world”, said Jagjit. Amongst the games that Jagjit played for Malaysia includes Hockey World Cup, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and many more.

After nine years of being the nation’s full back, Jagjit retired at 1991 at the age of 30 and joined the Malaysian Armed Forces as he wanted to be closer to his family. Although it was only nine years, his contribution in the Malaysian team has made then won two bronze medals in the Asian Games and won three gold’s in the Southeast Asian Games.

When asked about the current hockey squad, Jagjit said that the team now is not too bad. “With the new current coach, the team might probably qualify into the Olympics in the next five to six years”, added Jagjit who was referring to Paul Revington, a South African import who was awarded  the best coach for International Hockey Federation in the year 2011.

The last Olympics that the Malaysian team participated were at 2000 in Sydney and since then, Malaysia has never even been close to their Olympic dreams. Jagjit says that the standards in the Olympics are very high as other teams are getting better. “Teams like Japan and South Korea who used to be underdogs are improving and are conquering the hockey field and are trying to defeat big Asian guns like India and Pakistan” said Jagjit. “Besides that, the current Malaysia players are lacking in commitment and self-sacrifice and they look more towards the monetary gain and the fame in the sport” claimed Jagjit. Currently Malaysia is ranked 13 for the men’s team in the International Hockey Federation which is dominated by Germany, Australia and Netherlands.

Jagjit said that for Malaysia’s hockey team to get back into its glory days, the young generations must be encouraged to pick up the game. “Futsal is the current sport for Generation Y and if they are not into it, they are probably into computer and video gaming” said the father of two. “Schools must play an important role in starting hockey clubs as an after school activity, only then would the young generation be keen in learning this sport” Jagjit stated. Jagjit also added that he is frustrated that in Klang Valley alone there are only a handful of schools which have hockey clubs.

Hockey used to be a famous sport in Malaysia during the 80’s and now this sport is dying in participation and support from fellow Malaysians. Due to this, the current Malaysian hockey team had not made any great achievements in the field of hockey and the team is now on a downward spiral in the arena of hockey. Now would probably be the best time to instill this sports among this generation like how Jagjit Singh’s father instill the sport in him which shaped him into becoming the nation’s hockey legend. Hopefully, by then Malaysia would have hundreds of professional players like Jagjit and would bring the nation to its glory days.