Haryana girls secure second place and Chandigarh came third
TALWANDI SABO: The two-day 10th National Gatka (Girls) Championship organized by the National Gatka Association of India (NGAI) in association with Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) concluded successfully at Mata Sahib Kaur Girls College Talwandi Sabo, Bathinda district. In this national event girls from Punjab clinched overall trophy, Haryana wins second and Chandigarh girls came third place.
On the occasion General Secretary, SGPC, Gurcharan Singh Grewal, President, NGAI, Harjeet Singh Grewal, Member, Dharm Prachar Committee, Sukhvarsh Singh Pannu, senior vice president, Gatka Association of Punjab, Bidhi Singh Bathinda and DSP Talwandi Sabo, Buta Singh addressed the players during the closing ceremony.
In his keynote address Gurcharan Singh Grewal mentioned the equal status provided to women by the Guru Sahibaan since about 700 years ago besides the heroic deeds and gallantry roles performed by the Sikh women in the Indian history. Exhorting the Gatka players to equip themselves with self-defense through this traditional martial art, he asked them to inspire other girls to join this historic game.
Appreciating the initiative taken by the National Gatka Association, Grewal said the SGPC was ready to provide all possible cooperation to the association for the nationwide promotion of Gatka. He elaborated that concerted efforts were being made by the SGPC to promote and preserve the Gatka art in the country.
Sukhvarsh Singh Pannu while addressing said many efforts were being made from time to time by the Dharm Prachar Committee of SGPC for the propagation of Sikhi as well as Sikh martial art. As part of these initiatives, SGPC had setup special Gatka wings in schools/colleges to impart Gatka training to students. College Principal Dr. Kamalpreet Kaur thanked the guests as well as more than 300 Gatka players and their coaches/managers participating from the states of Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jammu Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab etc.
Among others present on the occasion included SGPC members Mohan Singh Bangi, Surjit Singh Raipur, Khushwinder Singh Bhatia, Jagseer Singh Mangeyanna, NGAI vice president Sukhchain Singh Kalsani, joint secretary Jaswant Singh Goga, Baljit Singh Saini, Talwinder Singh Ferozepur and national coordinator Simranjeet Singh, Bhola Singh, incharge Dharm Prachar Committee, Gurpreet Singh Jajjal, Gatka Incharge and Harjinder Singh, Gatka Coach.