When Baldev Singh was conferred the Padma Shri in 2026, Indian sport finally caught up with a truth that women’s hockey has known for decades that one man from a small Haryana town had altered the destiny of the national team more than any federation plan ever did.
In Shahabad Markanda, a railway town in Kurukshetra district, Baldev Singh created something unprecedented in Indian sport: a production line of elite women hockey players, forged not in luxury academies but on bare dirt, stone-filled grounds and ruthless discipline. Today, Shahabad is called the “nursery of Indian women’s hockey”. That reputation exists because of him.
A coach born out of hardship
Baldev Singh’s story begins in post-Partition Punjab, in a family that had been uprooted and pushed to the margins. Poverty was not a backdrop it was his daily reality. He worked in fields, pulled carts and saw first-hand what lack of opportunity meant. Hockey became his escape, first as a player and then as a coach.
After qualifying as an NIS coach in 1979–80, he joined Haryana’s Sports Department. When he arrived in Shahabad in the early 1980s, there was no infrastructure, no culture of women playing sport, and no expectation of excellence. Girls playing hockey were frowned upon. Families worried more about reputation than medals.
Baldev Singh ignored all of it.
The Shahabad experiment
In 1992, when he returned to Shahabad, Singh made a radical decision he would focus almost entirely on girls’ hockey. The venue was the Guru Nanak Pritam Girls Senior Secondary School, where the “ground” was little more than a rocky patch of land. Balls were scarce, sticks were broken, and travel money barely existed.
Training began at 5 am. There were no shortcuts. Late arrivals were punished, mistakes were shouted down, and physical and mental toughness was drilled relentlessly. Singh called his academy an “interrogation centre” because players were tested every day, on effort, attitude and resilience. In a country where women athletes were often handled gently, Singh did the opposite. He treated them as professionals long before women’s sport in India was taken seriously.
The sacrifices no one saw
The story that defines Baldev Singh more than any medal is the one about his car. When the academy had no money to travel for tournaments, Singh sold his personal vehicle, added lakhs from his own savings and bought a truck. He fitted it with seats so his girls could travel safely to competitions across India.
He became their coach, driver, manager and financier.
That act changed everything. Parents who were hesitant to send their daughters away suddenly saw a man willing to stake his own future on their children. Trust followed. And once trust came, Shahabad exploded with talent.
The stars he created
The list of players who passed through Baldev Singh’s hands reads like a roll call of modern Indian women’s hockey:
- Rani Rampal, the daughter of a cart-puller, who became India’s captain and Olympic hero
- Surinder Kaur, one of the most feared forwards of her era
- Ritu Rani, who led India back to the Olympics after 36 years
- Navneet Kaur, Jasjeet Kaur, Sandeep Kaur and many more
Across three decades, Singh produced over 70 international players and eight national captains a staggering number for a single town. Rani Rampal’s journey captures his impact best. When she was six, she cried outside his gate, begging to be trained. He took her in, gave her kit, paid for her food and believed in her when no one else did. Years later, she would lead India at the Olympics.
That is what Shahabad produced not just players, but leaders.
Fighting society as much as opponents
Baldev Singh wasn’t just battling rival teams. He was fighting deep-rooted patriarchy. In Haryana, girls wearing sports kits and travelling outside their towns was considered scandalous. Singh countered it with results. When his players began getting government jobs, representing India and sending money home, attitudes changed. Hockey became a ladder out of poverty.
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Shahabad transformed. Families that once hesitated now queued up to send their daughters. Sport became social revolution.
A painful exit
Despite everything he achieved, Singh walked away from Shahabad in 2015, frustrated by administrative neglect. Equipment was missing. Facilities were deteriorating. The man who had produced generations of internationals felt he was being forced to beg for basics. It was a bitter end to one of Indian sport’s greatest grassroots stories.
The Padma Shri in 2026 is more than a personal honour. It is recognition of a model that worked that coaching, sacrifice and long-term vision can change a nation’s sporting future. Indian women’s hockey’s rise Asia Cup titles, Olympic qualification, global respect carries the DNA of Shahabad all over it.
Baldev Singh didn’t just train players.
He built a culture.
And in doing so, he gave India its most powerful, self-sustaining women’s hockey factory from a dusty field in a forgotten town.
That is why this Padma Shri is not late. It is overdue.
