Gurbaj Singh: Suspended hockey star to highest priced player in Hockey India League

Son of a farmer draws a purse of $99000 in HIL

Gurbaz-Singh
Gurbaz Singh, the highest priced player in HIL seen in action at the Beighton Cup hockey at SAI, Kolkata on Monday. Image Source: Xtra Time

Kolkata: The humble attitude of Gurbaj Singh will come to many as a surprise. The star India hockey player who is currently seen in action at the Beighton Cup hockey in Kolkata for ONGC was recently in news for drawing a whopping amount of 68 lakhs in the bid for the Hockey Indian League. Gurbaj will be seen in action for former HIL champions Ranchi Rays. Gurbaj, who will be the highest priced player in HIL, is still serving a ban imposed upon him by Hockey India on grounds of indiscipline.

Rejected by the Federation, the star hockey player was forced to go to court to be able to play for the country, winning the case yet not finding a spot on the national team. It was even more fascinating as his base price was only $17,000.

“I am humbled by the fact that I was brought by such an amount by Ranchi Rays. Now, it is my duty to repay the faith entrusted upon me,” said Gurbaj on the sidelines of the SAI astro turf in Kolkata.

On being asked whether it was a bit of a surprise for him to become the highest paid player in HIL, in spite of the presence of foreign stars, Gurbaj said, “I am always confident about myself. I feel the most skillful players in hockey are from India. The Indian team in recent times has been doing well and the proof of that is the rise in ranking. It’s not that Indian players are lag behind the foreign players.”

Talking about his dream to play hockey, the star player confessed, “I always dreamt about playing hockey since my childhood days. I also wanted to play for the country.”

Son of a farmer, Gurbaj feel it’s good to see money come into hockey. “Yes, I believe it is a good thing to have happened in hockey. The youngsters will feel motivated to take the sport. The social life of the players is also improving with money coming into the game. It is a good thing to have happened for the game,” says Gurbaj who also play in the Malaysian League.

Gurbaj was banned by Hockey Ground on the grounds of indiscipline at Antwerp during the World League semifinals. Peeved by the coach’s report, Gurbaj took on the coaching staff and a trigger happy Hockey India banned him for creating disharmony within the national team.

In fact, during the 2012 London Olympics, the then coach Michael Nobbs had reported that Gurbaj has a tendency of taking on the coaches. After Antwerp, reports did mention that the former Indian captain and assistant coach at Antwerp, Jude Felix, had written the adverse brief.

Gurbaj went to court and won the case against Hockey India. To HI’s credit, he was selected and made captain for the Indian team to the SAF Games where the team won silver. Then he was dropped.

Gurbaj Singh was not good enough to make it to the top 33 players in the country. And now a team picks him up for $99,000!

Junior India coach Harendra Singh, who is also the coach of Ranchi Rays coach, wanted Gurbaz in his side.

Gurbaj, who played 204 games for the national team was part of the national team won gold at the 2007 Champions Trophy and then picked up silver medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, apart from representing India at the 2014 World Cup in Holland and the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, where India won gold to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.