Salute to Christian priests for consistently producing Olympians from Delhi

In the Paris Olympics that is starting on July 26, multiple Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medals winner Jaspal Rana, another alumnus of St. Stephen's College, is taking part as the mentor of young shooter, Manu Bhaskar

The distance between Delhi’s Mori Gate and Daryaganj is less than four kilometres. When India's hockey team was chosen for the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, it included Michael A. Gettle and Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi. The latter, was born in Pataudi House, Daryaganj, was to captain the Indian cricket team, a feta emulated by his son Mansur Ali Khan. Gettle and Patuadi Senior were arguably Delhi's first Olympic participants. Gettle was an Anglo-Indian, who resided near the old St. Stephen's College in Kashmiri Gate. In those days, many Anglo-Indian families lived in Kashmiri Gate and Mori Gate. A brilliant forward, Gettle also played alongside Dhyan Chand in the 1932 Los Angeles Games. He learned the intricacies of hockey at St. Stephen's College, which was then located in Kashmiri Gate.

The Delhi Brotherhood Society (DBS), which established St. Stephen's College, has always been committed to community service and encouraging emerging athletes. This college has produced hordes of players who have represented India in Olympics. If it has been producing accomplished players at a consistent rate, credit must be given to all those who work both as Christian priests and social workers, who all are associated with DBS.

Dr. Karni Singh is undoubtedly St. Stephen's College's most renowned Olympian. He participated in shooting competitions in the 1960 (Rome), 1964 (Tokyo), 1968 (Mexico), 1972 (Munich), and 1980 (Moscow) Olympics.

As you travel from Tughlakabad to Jamia Hamdard University in South Delhi, you'll come across the Karni Singh Shooting Range, the stadium in the capital named after a player – a rare occurrence in our country where political leaders dominate stadium naming conventions.

The range was built for the 1982 Asian Games shooting events. Renowned sports administrator and a product of St. Stephen’s college, Randhir Singh also made it to five Games from 1968 to 1984, which, in itself, is a remarkable achievement. He has held several positions in both Indian and international sports governing bodies, and also had a successful shooting career before retiring from the sport in 1994. Singh began his career in sports administration in 1984, while he was still competing.

He has been the acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) since September 11, 2021. His other roles in international sports administration include being a member of the IOC from 2001 to 2014 and Secretary General of the OCA from 1991 to 2015.

Mansher Singh, an exceptional shooter, competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. Both Randhir Singh and Mansher Singh studied at St. Stephen's College and honed their shooting skills there.

Mansher "Joey" Singh specializes in double trap and trap and proved his mettle in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games apart from in Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, during the Rome Games, Ranjit Bhatia, a mathematics professor at St. Stephen's College, competed in the marathon. In the same edition, the ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh's dream of winning a medal in the 400-meter race was shattered. While not a St. Stephen's alumnus, he moved to Delhi after the partition and lived in Paharganj for a few years. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, St. Stephen's College's Piyush Kumar competed in the 4x400-meter relay race and Sandeep Sejwal participated in the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke swimming events. Neha Aggarwal, a table tennis player and former student of St. Stephen's College, where Mahatma Gandhi's associate Deenbandhu C.F. Andrews, taught, participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Well, all those who are associated with DBS are proud of the fact that Charles Freer Andrews (February 12, 1871 - April 5, 1940) was an Anglican priest and a DBS member. He was an educator and an activist for Indian independence. He was close to both Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. In fact, he was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi was the leading light in the civil rights struggle. He also taught in St. Stephen’s college.

Brother Solomon George, a Christian priest at a Pitampura church in the capital and working in many educational institutions, says, “We strive to ensure our students excel not only in academics but also in sports and other activities so that they become ideal citizens. We provide them with every possible facility.” It is with this vision that St. Stephen's Cambridge School, recently established on the Delhi-Sonipat border, is offering modern facilities for various sports, aiming to produce future Olympians for India.

In the Paris Olympics that is starting on July 26, multiple Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medals winner Jaspal Rana, another alumnus of St. Stephen's College, is taking part as the mentor of young shooter, Manu Bhaskar.

One hopes that the priests of DBS continue to work for the glory of Indian sports and the society.

(The author is Delhi-based senior journalist and writer. He is author of Gandhi's Delhi which has brought to the forth many hidden facts about Mahatma Gandhi)