The year 1984 may have been a tumultuous year for the Punjabi community in general and Sikh community. It may not be easy for anyone to put behind the dastardly and tragic events that rocked not only Punjab but also the Punjabi community elsewhere. As the community was drowning in gloom, two overseas Punjabis  -Alexi Singh Grewal and Kulbir Singh Bhaura – provided the silver lining by telling the world how enterprising the community was. Not only they entered the history annals as first overseas Indians to win Olympic medals but they also set a new trend in motion that has been kept afloat by enterprising overseas Indian community ever since.

At the overall overseas Indian community has done exceedingly well in the world of sports, including Olympic games, Commonwealth games and cricket.

Their heroic deeds scripted a new chapter describing it as the launch of “Brand India“. Before 2016 ended, yet another overseas Indian – Rajeev Ram – kept the “Brand India” flame alive by winning an Olympic medal, a Silver in Rio Olympic games.

Contribution by overseas Indian community cannot by undermined for it has won cockles of many a heart in the contemporary sports world. In December when a field hockey team from Canada went to play in the 2016 Junior World Cup Hockey Tournament in Lucknow, 11 of its 16 members were of Indian origin.

These players -Brandon Pereira, Harbir Sidhu,Parmeet Gill, Rohan Chopra, Rajan Kahlon, Kabir Aujla, Balraj Panesar (captain), Ganga Singh, Gavin Bains, Arshjit Sidhu and Iqwwinder Gill – need to be complemented as they self-financed their participation in the prestigious Lucknow tournament.

And the Australian team, too, had one player of Indian origin, Kiran Arunasalam. It is after a long time that any player of Indian origin is playing for Australia in hockey.

At the overall overseas Indian community has done exceedingly well in the world of sports, including Olympic games, Commonwealth games and cricket.

You name any sport in which the overseas Indian community has not won laurels for the countries of its present abode. Needless to say, that 17 countries, including Canada, the US, Australia, Malaysia, England, Kenya, Uganda and Hong Kong, have been represented by overseas Indians in Olympic games.

Kulbir Bhaura, who represented Great Britain in field hockey, is the only overseas Indian to have two Olympic medals to his credit, a bronze in Los Angeles and a gold in Seoul.

Then there is Shiv Jagday, a former Indian Universities colour holder; he had the distinction of working as National Coach of Field Hockey Canada. He also coached the US national team besides being on the panel of the select FIH coaches. His son Ronnie Jagday also played for Canada in Sydney Olympic games. One must not forget the contribution of Malkiat Singh Saund who was one of the best forwards of the 1972 Munich Olympic games. Malkiat represented Uganda. Now he is settled in England.

Sutinder had the distinction of leading England in one match in the Mumbai World Cup Hockey Tournament in 1981-82. He played for England and Great Britain for a number of years.

If Australia is a world power in field hockey, it is all because of efforts of Pearce brothers who immigrated to Australia from India and represented their new country of abode in Olympic games.

Hardial Singh Kular, besides playing for Kenya, also rose to be the Vice-President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH). He was one of many Indian expatriates who represented Kenya in 60s and 70s of the last centenary.

He stands tall with Alexi Grewal, the first overseas Indian, to win an individual Olympic gold medal. In the 1984 Olympic games, he won the road race event in cycling in style. His father, a Sikh, had migrated to the US.

Interestingly, Alexi Grewal’s individual gold, though for the US, came 24 years before Abhinav Bindra won the country’s first ever-individual gold medal in Olympic games.

The latest from the overseas Indian community to get on to the Olympic medallist list is tennis player Rajeev Ram who won a silver medal in mixed doubles in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.

While the overseas Indians have done the country and the overseas Indian community proud, the Indian government is yet to reciprocate. Though it started organizing #PravasiBharatiyaDivas (PBD) where outstanding members of the overseas Indian community are felicitated, sportsmen and women are yet to get their due.

Besides Alexi Singh Grewal, Kulbir Singh Bhaura and Rajeev Ram, there are a large number of other sportsmen and women, who have done the overseas community and India proud.

Rajeev Ram has to his credit a silver medal. In partnership with Venus Williams,

Rajeev Ram, finished runners-up in mixed doubles event in Tennis. Thirty-two- year-old Rajeev is first generation American. His parents moved to States in 1981 and Rajeev was born in 1984.

Rajeev won his first major Tennis title in Chennai in 2009. Rated as one of the top doubles players in tennis, silver in Olympics has been his highest achievement. In the semi-finals, Rajeev and Venus had defeated Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.

After Rajeev Ram, another athlete of Indian origin doing well for a country other than India is shutter Rajiv Ousef. Born in Indians dominated Hounslow area in England, Rajiv has already qualified for quarterfinals of men’s singles in Rio. On his way to last eight Rajiv have beaten Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia, Sasaki Sho of Japan and Koukel Petr of Czech. At 30, this has been perhaps best ever performance by him in a major sporting event. He had won a silver medal in the 2010 Commonwealth games in New Delhi.

Cricket is a game that every person of Indian origin follows. Monty Panesar scripted a new chapter when he became the first turban-wearing player to represent a country other than India in Test cricket. Monty played for England. Ravi Bopara followed him.

Since I have been following the overseas community closely, I wrote the following piece in The Tribune in November 2010 talking about emerging  “Icons” of the Indian community. My piece was re-read by many as the President-elect, Donald Trump, named Nikki Haley, as the US Ambassador to the United Nations,

My piece read:

“What do Nikki Haley Randhawa, Bobby Jindal and Arjan Bhullar have in common?They all belong to the second-generation Punjabi Diaspora of North America.

While Randhawa and Jindal share the rare distinction of being the first Indian Americans to be Governors in the US, Bhullar has become the first Indo-Canadian to win a gold medal for his adopted homeland in the just- concluded Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

They all are now icons of successful second generation young overseas Punjabis — 20-40 age group– who have brought laurels to the motherland of their parents after scripting extraordinary success stories in their chosen fields.

Interestingly, both Randhawa and Jindal are almost of the same age group — both succeeding in their race for gubernatorial posts even before they turned 40.

Though Piyush Subhas Chandra Amrit Bobby Jindal created history in 2008 by getting elected as Governor of Louisiana at the age of 37, Nimrata Nikki Haley Randhawa, will be almost 39 when she assumes charge as Governor of Carolina in the New Year.

Similarities are not only limited to the age group but also extend to other areas. Parents of both Jindal and Randhawa migrated to the US in the early 70s. And fathers of both Jindal and Randhawa were university teachers before they decided to leave India for good.

While the Jindals belonged to the Malerkotla area in Punjab, Rancheria’s family moved from Amritsar to the United States.

Mothers of both Jindal and Randhawa have the same first name — Raj. If similarities can be taken a step further, “A” is the initial of their fathers’ first name, Amar Jindal and Ajit Randhawa. Both belonged to the middle-class families before getting lured by the greener pastures of the US.

Interestingly, Jindal married Supriya Jolly, also an Indian-American, Randhawa married an American, Michael Haley.

Like their parents, both Bobby and Nikki charted out their own ways to success and glory with their sheer hard work, determination and commitment.

Bhullar has been on a different turf. Born in a family of wrestlers — his father Avtar Singh Bhullar was a known wrestler of his times who contested against Asian games champion Kartar Singh – in Vancouver in British Columbia, Arjan had to choose between soccer and wrestling in his school days. Now while pursuing higher studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, he is focused on wrestling and wants to make it to the podium at the 2012 Olympic games in London.

Never before any Indo-Canadian had won a gold medal for his or her adopted homeland in any international meet of the level of Commonwealth Games, Pan American games or the Olympic Games.”

Now coming to many other sports personalities who also deserve appreciation and honour for flying the Indian flag flying overseas.

Hockey Olympian Avtar Singh Sohal played for Kenya in 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics, captaining Kenya in the last three editions of the Olympic games. He went to 1984 Olympics as Chief Coach of Kenya Besides Avtar also played for Kenya in the inaugural 1971 World Cup as Captain. In the second World Cup (1973) in Amsterdam, he went as Assistant Coach. Avtar is also the FIH Coach and also a member of the FIH Development and Coaching Committee. No one in the history of Olympic hockey has captained a national team for three consecutive times. In India, Pargat Singh has the distinction of leading India in two Olympic games.

Avtar Singh was in Rio Olympic games on his own to watch the hockey competition and other events.

Naaz Shah belongs to select band of Indian women hockey players who played for India in the Olympic games. When India was represented in women’s hockey competition in the Moscow Olympics, she was a member of the team. She was also a member of the gold medal winning Indian team in the 1982 Asian Games. Now settled in Hamilton, NZ she continues to be passionate about hockey.

Four of her trainees represented New Zealand in the New Delhi Junior World Cup Hockey Tournament. In the 2016 Junior World Cup Hockey Tournament in Lucknow, another batch of her trainees also represented New Zealand. Naaz also went to Rio as a Volunteer where she had the distinction of becoming flag-bearer of Indian hockey team in one of its pool matches. Now she has been a coaching youngster, both boys and girls in Hamilton where she works as a teacher. While she won laurels for India, her contribution to hockey and sports have remained unrecognised.

Let us talk about the World’s richest league, NBA. It is in this league that members of the overseas Indian community have made dents.

Gursimran “Sim” Bhullar, Canada born Punjabi boy, has the distinction of becoming the first ever player of Indian origin to play in NBA. Though Satnam Singh Bhamara and Palpreet Singh, both Punjab born basketball players have been subsequently drafted into NBA, they too have brought good name to Indian sports worldwide.