This week for our weekly edition of Hyderabond, retired Indian Army officer and international coach Amit Singh speaks of his association with Hyderabad, the sports culture in the city, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Hyderabad has been home to many. When we say home, it’s not only for people who have been born and brought up here but also for people who have migrated from different cities, states, and even countries. So has it been for retired Army Officer Amit Singh, who’d shifted to the ‘City of Nizams’ back in 2001. Well, it was the same year when he joined the Indian Army.
Hailing from an Army background, where both his grandfather and father had served the nation and had retired from the force, Amit was very well aware of and keen to join the Indian Army too. At the mere age of 16, when most of us think about how and what we are going to do ahead in our careers, it was at that age that he joined the Indian Army. And guess what? He travelled all alone from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. After that, he completed his basic training in the Army, joined the sports team there, and continued getting training in sports. So basically, this young man back then was doing all that he always loved doing: getting into the Army and being an active sportsman too. While
interacting for our special column on Hyderabond, he recalls, “I got my first medal in 2003, and later, till 2009, I went on to win several medals. It was in 2010 when I was called as a coach for the Asian Games camp.” It’s an unexpected, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, isn’t it? But he couldn’t be there due to an unfortunate tragedy. He continues, “During the same time, unfortunately, my father had passed away, and I had to leave the camp. But fortunately, due to my achievements and talent, the federation once again called me in 2011. From then till December 2022, I worked as a coach there with the Indian team.”
As the keen sports enthusiast that he’s been all his life to date, in the year 2020, he got his sports business registered under his wife’s name. “I was still in the Army back then. I had always dreamed of doing something for sports. Even while the coaching was going on, I had wanted to open a sports showroom, which was a dream because everywhere we used to go to these sports showrooms, it was important for one to buy good-quality sports products, and there were many places where the quality of these goods was not there. So I had this idea that when I opened a showroom, I’d provide authentic, good-quality products, and that was when I started the showroom in September 2022,” he shares, adding that it was on December 31, 2021, that he had retired from the Indian Army.
Ever since he was shifted to Hyderabad, there’s been no looking back. Sharing how the city has been treating him to date, he shares, “It’s been good here; do your work; no one will bother you, and you can go wherever you want with peace; you can do any of
the work. I started the business two years ago, and even before that, when I was there with the Indian team in the camp, there were different coaches, where one would focus on training and the other would do some other work. There used to be rotational duties, so when I used to go out in the city related to work, things were really good.”
According to him, the climate here has been very different, and he feels that compared to other cities like Delhi or Mumbai, the crowd here has been much smaller, which makes living here much easier and more convenient.
Over the years, he feels that there’s been huge progress in terms of the sports infrastructure. He shares, “There have been many academies and sports clubs opened here, and developments are happening constantly. A lot is also coming, and in fact, even in the outskirts, there have been sports courts, cycling tracks around the city have been made, better cricket grounds are being made, and they are also focusing on football grounds. I joined the army and had the opportunity to join sports. I feel that even if one is not looking at the professional front, they should do sports so they are fit, and if the body is fit, they can work in any field. With sports, youngsters wouldn’t go the wrong way or have the wrong thoughts, and when one joins sports, they have a friendly and supportive nature, and it should be. Several cities, states, and even countries have now been focusing on levelling up the sports infrastructure, and different governments are trying to raise awareness about sports as much as they can. Even in UP, now that I look at it, there’s a lot of development. There are Khelo India centres too.”
Today, through his Decathlete Sports Impex and the coaching that he had done earlier, he feels glad that the young ones have been keen on joining sports and also highlights how the parents have been very supportive of their kids in regard to them joining sports.
As we come to an end, sharing what Hyderabad means to him, he says, “Hyderabad to me is my ‘Karmsthal’ and I’m from EME, and their motto is ‘Karm hi Dharm’. One that we have is the birthplace, and one is a workplace, and Hyderabad is my workplace. Jitna mai apne birthplace pe nahi raha hoon that much I have been in my workplace. I’ve got a lot of respect here because I’ve been in sports and climbed the gold podium because I came here. Maybe if I had gone somewhere else, maybe I wouldn’t be in sports.”
