Three hockey stars were part of Gurdaspur operation

THE THREE BRAVEHEARTS

Baljit Dhillon: Ace forward Baljit Singh Dhillon, who featured in about 300 matches for India, was decorated with the Arjuna Award in 1998. He also represented the country in three Olympic Games between 1996 and 2004. He was awarded the man-of-the-series in the Indo-Pak series in 1999 for his nine goals. He is now employed as a superintendent of police in Punjab.

Jugraj Singh: Jugraj was easily amongst India’s most promising players before his career was cut short in a car accident in 2003. The defender was famous for his ferocious drag-flicks. He made valiant efforts to return to the Indian national team, but could not make much of an impact and chose to groom budding drag-flickers.

Daljit Dhillon: The 35-year-old Punjab forward played 88 matches for India. He made his international debut in 1998. The Jalandhar-born Daljit is the brother of Baljit Singh Dhillon. He was a DSP (Attari, Kapurthala) in Punjab Police.He played in the World Cup, Asian Games and the Champions Trophy teams in 2002.

Three former Indian hockey players ­ drag flick expert Jugraj Singh, former India captain Baljit Dhillon and his brother Daljit Dhillon ­ were all called to join the Punjab Police team which was involved in the operation to eliminate the terrorists who had attacked the border town of Dinanagar near Gurdaspur on July 27. The trio had been rushed to Gurdaspur from their place of posting soon after the attack on the police station.

Daljit (DSP-Attari, Kapurthala) and Jugraj (DSP-Investigation, Amritsar Rural) were part of the operation during the day while Baljit, Superintendent of Police, Investigation (Hoshiarpur), was asked to be ready for action if the operation stretched beyond the evening. That situation did not arise. “I can’t talk about the mission in detail as it’s a sensitive issue,“ Jugraj told media in India while on his way to another “mission“. But he revealed this much to a news agency: “As soon as the message about the incident was flashed, we rushed to the site to neutralise the terrorists,“ Jugraj said. “We reached Dinanagar at about 8:15 am in the morning and took our positions,“ said the former India star who was known as a fearless performer during his playing days..

Baljit, who formed a deadly combination with Dhanraj Pillay during his playing days and who also played alongside Jugraj, said he was waiting for his turn to join the operation when it ended. “Had the fighting carried on, we would have joined it,“ he said.

Gurdaspur SP-Detective Baljit Singh was killed in the terrorist attack. “Someone posted his name along with my photo on the social networking site. It kept circulating and people kept call ing my home for days,“ said the former player who represented in two Olympics ­ Atlanta Games and Sydney Games.