With the aim of up­lift­ing Sikh youth, es­pe­cially Sik­li­gar Sikh youth through sports, the fourth sea­son of the five-day Khalsa Cricket Cup, Jaipur spear­headed by Gur­mat Gian Group Jaipur, saw 13 spir­ited teams from across In­dia show­cas­ing ex­em­plary tal­ent and sports­man­ship with Team Bhai Taru Singh from Malviya Na­gar, Jaipur win­ning the Khalsa Cricket Cup beat­ing Sahibzada Ajit Singh Group Jaipur by 37 runs. A WSN re­port by Ka­mal­jeet Singh.

Sea­son 4 of the Khalsa Cricket Cup got off with the same zeal as seen in the pre­vi­ous years. Com­menc­ing the tour­na­ment with full gusto, the Khalsa War­riors team from Al­war set the tone with a 22-run vic­tory against Singhs 11 from Jaipur. Sub­se­quent matches high­lighted the grit and de­ter­mi­na­tion of teams like Sid­hus 11 from Pa­ni­pat and Bhai Taru Singh’s squad from Malviya Na­gar, Jaipur.

The nail-bit­ing quar­ter-fi­nals brought a mix of ex­hil­a­ra­tion and heart­break, with the high­light be­ing Bhai Taru Singh over­com­ing Sid­hus 11 from Pa­ni­pat by 49 runs. The semi­fi­nals pit­ted some of the strongest con­tenders against each other, set­ting up a thrilling fi­nal that had au­di­ences on the edge of their seats.

When Bhai Taru Singh’s vic­tory was fi­nally sealed, the ground echoed with the joy­ous cries of “Bole So Ni­hal, Sat Sri Akal,” sym­bol­iz­ing the unity and spir­i­tual strength of the com­mu­nity.

This an­nual tour­na­ment is more than just cricket. For Sik­li­gar Sikhs and other mar­gin­al­ized Sikh com­mu­ni­ties, it stands as a bea­con of hope and a tes­ta­ment to the trans­for­ma­tive power of sports. The or­ga­niz­ers and sup­port­ers aim to help the Sikh youth tap into the dis­ci­pline, ded­i­ca­tion, and ca­ma­raderie in­her­ent in sports, turn­ing them away from the lure of drugs and other vices.

Like in Jaipur, in many other parts of In­dia, crick­et­ing tour­na­ments by Sik­li­gars are be­ing con­ducted to har­ness their tal­ent in a pos­i­tive way. The main pop­u­lar events in­clude those in Raipur, Chat­tis­garh, and Nanded, Ma­ha­rash­tra.

The par­tic­i­pat­ing teams in­cluded -Sahibzada Ajit Singh (Jha­lana Doon­gri, Jaipur), Bhai Taru Singh (Malviya Na­gar, Jaipur), Singhs’ 11 (Jaipur), Khalsa War­riors (Al­war), Baba Fateh Singh Stricker (Jaipur), Jaipur Khalsa War­riors (Jaipur), Sid­hus’ 11 (Pa­ni­pat, Haryana), Fight­ing Fal­cons (Al­war), PB 11 (Jaipur), Bhai Taru Singh 11 (Malviya Na­gar, Jaipur), King War­riors (Delhi), Bhai Mani Singh 11 (Khairthal), Khalsa War­riors (Jaipur), Jaipur Khalsa War­riors (Jaipur) and Hari Singh Nalwa (Jaipur).

Promi­nent per­son­al­i­ties of Ra­jasthan, in­clud­ing in­dus­tri­al­ist-ed­u­ca­tion­ist Ajay­pal Singh, for­mer Chair­man of the Ra­jasthan Hous­ing Board graced the event.

“I am com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing Sikh youth in not only cricket but also other sports like hockey, foot­ball, bas­ket­ball, and bad­minton. It’s high time they got the plat­forms they de­serve,” Ajay­pal Singh told The World Sikh News.

“I am com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing Sikh youth in not only cricket but also other sports like hockey, foot­ball, bas­ket­ball, and bad­minton. It’s high time they got the plat­forms they de­serve.”

Ajay­pal Singh, in­dus­tri­al­ist, ed­u­ca­tion­ist, phil­an­thropist and Sikh com­mu­nity leader

This sen­ti­ment was echoed by oth­ers such as Jas­bir Singh, for­mer Chair­man of the Mi­nori­ties Com­mis­sion, and Man­jin­der Singh Bagga, Chair­per­son of Pun­jabi Acad­emy Ra­jasthan.

Their pres­ence and en­cour­age­ment un­der­scored the com­mu­ni­ty’s com­mit­ment to nur­tur­ing young tal­ents and en­sur­ing they have every op­por­tu­nity to shine.

Or­ga­niz­ers Jas­bir Singh of the Jaipur De­vel­op­ment Au­thor­ity, Am­rit Singh, and Ji­ten­der Singh, who have ded­i­cated them­selves to el­e­vat­ing this event over the years have laboured hard to give a new twist to the lives of be­lea­guered Sik­li­gar Sikhs.

“Our pri­mary aim through this Cricket Cup is to reach out and con­nect with Sikh youth and Sik­li­gar Sikh youth from dif­fer­ent parts of the coun­try.”

Am­rit Singh, or­gan­iser, Khalsa Cricket Cup, Jaipur

Speak­ing to WSN, the co-or­gan­iser of the event Am­rit Singh shed light on their mo­tive be­hind the ini­tia­tive, say­ing “Our pri­mary aim through this Cricket Cup is to reach out and con­nect with Sikh youth and Sik­li­gar Sikh youth from dif­fer­ent parts of the coun­try.”

His com­pa­triot Jas­bir Singh, who lay the foun­da­tion of var­i­ous schemes to em­power the Sik­li­gar Sikhs, added: “The un­der­ly­ing theme of the Khalsa Cricket Cup is to in­spire our young Sikh gen­er­a­tion to delve deeper into Sikhi and un­der­stand its pro­found teach­ings.”

Am­rit Singh, along­side com­mit­tee mem­bers Jasvin­der Singh and Ji­ten­der Singh, em­pha­sized the unique as­pects of the tour­na­ment. “We’ve es­tab­lished cer­tain poli­cies for par­tic­i­pat­ing “Every player must be in Sikhi Sa­roop, which means they should have cov­ered hair and untrimmed beards. This is­n’t just a game for us; it’s about up­hold­ing our tra­di­tions and val­ues.”

“The Khalsa Cricket Cup bridges sports and Sikh val­ues.”

The or­ga­niz­ers also ex­plained the choice of cricket for this ini­tia­tive. “We’ve ob­served a grow­ing in­ter­est in cricket among Sikh boys. While there is a bud­ding pas­sion for hockey as well, our cur­rent fo­cus is on cricket as it seems to res­onate more with the youth,” added Jasvin­der Singh.

“The un­der­ly­ing theme of the Khalsa Cricket Cup is to in­spire our young Sikh gen­er­a­tion to delve deeper into Sikhi and un­der­stand its pro­found teach­ings.”

Jas­bir Singh, pi­o­neer -Sik­li­gar Sikhs ed­u­ca­tion move­ment in Jaipur

Through ini­tia­tives like the Khalsa Cricket Cup, the Sikh com­mu­nity show­cases the trans­for­ma­tive power of sports in chang­ing lives. It’s not just about the runs scored or wick­ets taken, but the count­less dreams re­al­ized and fu­tures se­cured. And for that, every par­tic­i­pant, sup­porter, and or­ga­nizer de­serves ac­co­lades.

How­ever, this is­n’t the end of their sport­ing jour­ney. As in­ter­est grows, the team is con­sid­er­ing the in­clu­sion of other sports. “We’ve no­ticed an uptick in young­sters show­ing en­thu­si­asm for hockey. We’re keen on ex­plor­ing that av­enue soon. These sports ini­tia­tives are in­stru­men­tal in fos­ter­ing Sikhi val­ues among our youth,” shared Ji­ten­der Singh.

“This is­n’t just about win­ning a match. It’s about win­ning at life, stay­ing fit, build­ing re­la­tion­ships, and most im­por­tantly, re­al­iz­ing dreams.”

Be­yond the realm of sports, the or­ga­niz­ers high­lighted other com­mu­nity ef­forts. “Apart from the cricket ini­tia­tive, we have on­go­ing Gur­mat and com­puter classes. These are de­signed to equip our chil­dren with both spir­i­tual un­der­stand­ing and the es­sen­tial skills re­quired in this dig­i­tal age,” con­cluded Am­rit Singh.

“This is­n’t just about win­ning a match. It’s about win­ning at life, stay­ing fit, build­ing re­la­tion­ships, and most im­por­tantly, re­al­iz­ing dreams,” re­marked Jas­bir Singh.