Aim of Guru Gobind Singh Under-17 School Hockey Championship is to connect children with hockey and produce new Olympians

Ludhiana, November 15, 2026: Hockey, as the national sport of India, holds a unique identity all over the world. Punjab and especially Ludhiana district has had a huge contribution in the golden history of Indian hockey. This land has produced many Olympians, international hockey players and renowned coaches. But in present times, there is a great need to further strengthen hockey at the school level, to connect the new generation with the sport and to encourage new talent.
Keeping this objective in mind, the 10th Guru Gobind Singh Under-17 School Hockey Championship is being organized by Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association from 29th November to 2nd December 2026 at Olympian Prithipal Singh Hockey Stadium, Ludhiana. This championship is not just a sports competition, but an important effort to give a new direction to the future of hockey in Ludhiana district.
12 teams of boys and girls will participate in this championship. The most important objective of this tournament is to connect school children with hockey, to create interest in the sport among them, to teach them to play with competitive spirit and to prepare them as future national and international players.
*Awards in the name of great hockey players will be the special attraction*
A unique feature of this championship is that awards have been instituted in the name of great hockey players related to Ludhiana district. The aim is not only to give prizes to young players, but to make them aware of the achievements of the great players of their district and to inspire them to follow in their footsteps.
6 selected players who show excellent performance in terms of game, discipline, hard work and talent in Under-17 category will be honoured with a cash prize of Rs. 5,000 each and special awards. More specially, efforts will be made to honour these young players at the hands of those great hockey personalities who have dedicated their lives to hockey.
*Ludhiana's hockey heritage will get new honour*
The land of Ludhiana has a very old and deep relationship with hockey. India's first Sikh Olympian Kehar Singh Gill was also produced by the land of Ludhiana. Apart from this, Olympian Prithipal Singh, Olympian Hardeep Singh Grewal, Olympian Jaswant Singh Gill, brothers Balbir and Gurbaksh Singh Grewal, Ramandeep Singh and many other players have brought glory to Indian hockey at the international level.
To carry forward this legacy, 6 awards will be given in the name of great hockey personalities.
This year's Best Coach will be honoured with Padma Shri Baldev Singh Award, Best Forward player with Olympian Balbir Singh Grewal Award, Best Half Back with Olympian Hardeep Singh Grewal Award, Best Full Back with Rachhpal Singh Nagi (Kindo) Award, Best Goalkeeper with Harjot Singh Jyoti Award, and in girls category the Best Player will be honoured with Olympian and 1982 Asian Games Gold Medalist Sharanjit Kaur Award.
An important meeting of the Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association team was held today at PAU Ludhiana Hockey Ground.
This entire effort is being led by the patron of the organization Padma Shri and Dronacharya Awardee Coach Baldev Singh. President Amrik Singh Minhas, Retired AIG Punjab Police, General Secretary Jagroop Singh Jarkhar Sports Promoter, Chairman Sukhwinder Singh, JP Singh Ram Textiles, Surinder Singh Arora, Vice President Hukam Singh and Davinder Singh Kala Ghumman, Treasurer R.S. Nagi, Administrative Secretary Gursatinder Singh Pargat and Technical Director of the tournament Gurtej Singh Laddi, Navdeep Singh Ghumman, Paramjit Singh Pamma Grewal, Kuldeep Singh Ghawaddi are making special efforts to make this championship a success.
General Secretary Jagroop Singh Jarkhar said that through Guru Gobind Singh Under-17 School Hockey Championship, Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association has tried to give birth to a new thinking. When a small child will receive an award from the hands of an Olympian of his district, then the dream of playing for the country and becoming an Olympian will definitely be born in his mind. He said that apart from this, 4 more personalities will be specially honoured at the inaugural ceremony and a souvenir showcasing the achievements of Ludhiana hockey will also be released.