In a first for the sport, two young hockey players of Indian origin, Arjunjit Singh and Parampreet Singh, make it to the Finland hockey team for the EuroHockey Championship III, beginning on Monday in Turkey
Arjunjit Singh
When you mention hockey in Finland, the familiar images that pop up in one’s mind are ice, puck, twig and a big crowd getting behind the players rushing across the ice rink. But if you are an Indian living in this northern European nation, hockey brings back memories of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where the mercurial Balbir Singh Sr scored five goals in the final — still a world record — to take India to another gold medal. India hammered The Netherlands 6-1 in the summit clash to finish on top of the Olympic podium.
Currently, at the same velodrome, where the hockey event of the 1952 Olympic Games was played, Finland’s little-known hockey team is training for the EuroHockey Championship III (EHC) tournament. Among the typical ash blond Finnish heads doing all their drills ever so sincerely under coaches Elliot Steedman and Attila Farkas are two players who have created history.
In a first, two teenagers of Indian origin — striker Arjunjit Singh, 16, and midfielder Parampreet Singh, 19 — have been picked for Finland’s senior men’s hockey team that will be seen competing at the EHC III tournament to be held in Kirklareli, Turkey, from July 28 to August 2.
Parampreet (left) with Arjunjit’s father Bikramjit Singh (right), better known as Vicky. Pics/By Special Arrangement
EHC III is the tier of the European Field Hockey Championship organised by the European Hockey Federation. The winner of this tournament gets promoted to EHC II.
The inspiration for both of these young lads has been Arjunjit’s father, Bikramjit Singh, popularly known as Vicky in the local circles.
A national-level player from India and a product of the Government Brijindra College in Faridkot, Punjab, Vicky moved to Finland in 2004 after he got married. In 2013, he instituted the Warriors Hockey Club. And within a decade, in the 2023-24 season, Vicky’s club went on to win the men’s national league title.
Both Arjunjit and Parampreet are products of the Warriors Hockey Club and have risen in the ranks from playing age-group hockey in both indoor and outdoor formats.
Parampreet Singh
“Arjun started playing with the club when he was just five years old. At 13, he got selected in the under-18 Finland squad. However, since the rules here do not permit kids below the age of 14 to play internationally, we had to take special permission to ensure Arunjit could represent the U-18 Finland side,” Vicky, who works as an assistant teacher and survived a near-fatal road accident in 2012, tells Sunday mid-day from Finland.
The interesting part of promising forward Arjunjit’s journey is that he has also earned recognition as an umpire at a rather young age. Normally, players take to umpiring after retiring from the game, but Arjunjit picked up the whistle early.
“I want to play professional hockey,” says Arjunjit, a student of information technology. “My father inspired me to take up the sport and then I fell in love with it. As far as umpiring is concerned, I wasn’t happy with the standards [of umpiring] here. I felt I could do a better job at it, so I started umpiring as well. But while I love officiating, my goal is to one day play at the Olympic Games.”
That might be a bit far-fetched at this point though, considering the Finland men’s team is 58th in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings and they have many giants of hockey from Europe, like the Netherlands, Belgium, and England to compete with.
Parampreet, meanwhile, is fresh from completing his mandatory military service prevalent in Finland. Every male citizen of Finland, turning 18, needs to complete a military service, which can be for 165, 255 or 347 days. Parampreet served for a year, but, in between, procured an exemption as he had to lead the Warriors Hockey Club in the national league. “Initially I thought of doing it [military service] for just six months, but then I liked it so much that I decided to complete a year,” he tells us.
Parampreet helps out his family in their hotel business when not playing hockey and is studying business management. His roots are from Hoshiarpur in Punjab. For him, hockey began in 2015.
“One day my father dropped me off at the velodrome, where Vicky uncle and a Finnish coach were training young kids. I instantly liked what I saw and my journey began from there,” says Parampreet.
The strapping midfielder idolises India captain Harmanpreet Singh, and just like him, Parampreet too is a fairly potent drag-flicker and executes penalty corners almost flawlessly. He hasn’t made up his mind yet about whether he wants to turn professional in the sport though. “As of now, hockey is going on pretty well, along with my work. So, let’s see in the future,” he says.
Arjunjit and Parampreet were among the 30 probable players named by the Finnish Hockey Association in December 2024 and since April have been practising at the velodrome on weekends. Late in June, the final squad of 18 was selected, where the duo dribbled their way in to become a part of hockey history.
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