The Indian hockey team dominated the game of hockey for a long time. On the basis of this, the team won 12 medals in the Olympics, including 8 gold medals. After winning the last gold medal in 1980, India's dominance ended and it took 41 years to win the next medal in this game. However, the performance of the team has improved a lot in the last few years. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is a big example of this, where the team won the bronze medal. Now once again the Indian hockey team has geared up for the Paris Olympics. Sukhjeet Singh of Punjab has been included in this team, who has been bedridden for 5 months after injury and has returned to the team after defeating a disease like paralysis.

An injury put a break on the dream

Sukhjeet Singh, a resident of Punjab, is part of the Indian hockey team in the Paris Olympics starting from July 26. 28-year-old Sukhjeet is going to play Olympics for the first time. After his selection, he had said that it was his and his family's dream to play in such a big tournament, which is now going to be fulfilled. However, this journey has not been so easy for the forward player who will debut for Team India in 2022. Sukhjeet was about to debut for the team 6 years ago in 2018, but a leg injury turned his whole world upside down. He missed out on making his debut for Team India.

remained bedridden for 5 months

Sukhjeet Singh's father Ajit Singh is employed in the Punjab Police and he has also been a hockey player. He started teaching hockey to his son at the age of 6. After starting at such a young age, Sukhjeet's dream of playing in Team India was full of difficulties. Just before his debut in 2018, he suffered a back injury. Due to this, he was bedridden for 5 months. Not only this, due to this injury, his right leg became temporarily paralyzed. He was unable to even walk, even eating on his own had become impossible.

Sukhjeet did not accept defeat

Despite being bedridden for 5 months and suffering from paralysis, Sukhjeet did not give up. He described it as the worst and most difficult time of his life. At one point, he felt that his dream of playing hockey for Team India was slowly slipping away from his hands. Sukhjeet did not give up despite facing so much mental and physical trouble. His father played an important role in his recovery.

Sukhjeet's father kept motivating him, which boosted his confidence. He started to feel that he could defeat this disease. As a result, after recovering from the injury, Sukhjeet made his debut against Spain in the Pro League 2021-22 season. After this, he played 70 matches in the next two years. During this, he performed brilliantly by scoring 20 goals and made a place for the Olympics.