 "India defeated China 1-0 in the final of the 2024 Asian Champions Trophy. Image credit: Wordswork")
Jugraj Singh emerged as an unlikely goal-scorer for India in the Men’s Asian Champions Trophy final on Tuesday. The defender popped up in the middle to capitalise on little space to score into the corner after a Harmanpreet Singh assist. It proved to be the winner as India beat China 1-0 to clinch the title for the fifth time and second edition running.
The highs of the success in Moqi, China, are far from his humble beginnings as son of a porter who sold tricolour flags and water bottles at the Attari-Wagah border to help his family.
Jugraj’s father Sukhjeet Singh, 59, has worked as a porter for 30 years and is now posted at the Attari Integrated Check Post. Before Sukhjeet, Jugraj’s grandfather, Dara Singh, was a porter as well.
The lineage would follow the pattern had it not been for coach Navjit Singh who spotted Jugraj’s athletic capabilities and got him to play hockey on grass at the Government Senior Secondary School in Attari.
“Jugraj would practice in the morning and afternoon before going to sell flags to tourists. Even though his day would end late, he would be the first one to be at training in the morning,” the coach recalled to The Indian Express.
The big break arrived in 2005 when a Punjab government sports wing was created at the school by former India captain Pargat Singh, the then Punjab sports director.
Jugraj joined the Baba Uttam Singh National Hockey Academy in Khadoor Sahib in 2009. The coach there, Balkar Singh, recalls a touching moment from the time. “After the team reached the final of the Nehru Cup, we got him a kit sponsored by BAS and Vampire. He would keep the kit next to him even when he slept. That is how much he valued it,” he says.
In a reversal of fortune, Jugraj, now in the Navy, comes bearing kits for youngsters.
“Working at the border post, I would often ask BSF officers to tell Pakistan border officials to pray for us at the Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib gurdwaras. It is Guru Nanak Dev ji’s blessings which have guided him,” said his father.