Kiwi-Indians celebrate sporting excellence in droves

New Zealand's Indian community has enjoyed a run of mouth-watering sporting events in recent weeks, with tens of thousands attending multiple competitions in Auckland.

First was the inaugural edition of the New Zealand Punjabi Games, which was held on 23 November at Auckland's Alfriston College.

This was followed by the seventh edition of the New Zealand Sikh Games, which was held on 29 and 30 November, and organised at sports facilities in South Auckland, including Bruce Pullman Park in Takanini.

On Sunday, New Zealand defeated defending champions Pakistan to lift the third New Zealand Kabaddi World Cup. The tournament was held at the Sikh Sports Complex located behind the Takanini Gurudwara.

Manjinder Singh Bassi, president of the organising committee for the NZ Punjabi Games and secretary of the Kabaddi Federation of New Zealand, thanked the community for participating in big numbers.

"Sports unite and our goal is to make the NZ Punjabi Games as inclusive as possible," Manjinder said.

"Looking at the success of our inaugural edition, several sports clubs who missed out this year have already expressed desire to participate next year."

Simrit Singh Bassi, head organiser for the Punjabi Games said audiences enjoyed watching football and volleyball matches alongside the main attraction: kabaddi.

"The culture element was provided by noted Punjabi singer Babbu Mann, who especially flew in from India to perform for us," Simrit said.

"Next year, we are trying to include netball, basketball, kho kho (a form of tag dating back to prehistoric India), wrestling and even powerlifting."

These sports and many more - hockey, golf, tug-of-war, badminton, tennis, athletics and, of course, cricket - were also part of the seventh edition of New Zealand Sikh Games.

Gurpreet Bains, a member of Sikh Games organising committee, said more than 100 teams competed at this year's edition across sporting disciplines.

"There has been a big increase in teams coming from Australia," said Robin Atwal, another member of the Sikh Games organising committee. "Over 30 of them are competing here this time."

Daljeet Singh Sidhu, president of the organising committee for NZ Sikh Games, said his team had been inspired by the success of the Australian Sikh Games which had been running for three decades already in the late 2010s.

The team decided to launch a New Zealand version of the games in 2019.

"Since then, we have grown to accommodate more athletes and more sports, including increasing participation by women every year," Sidhu said.

"[But] over the years, our goal has remained the same - to give the Indian community in New Zealand a platform to showcase their sporting excellence."

Gurwinder Singh Aulakh, secretary of the Sikh Games organising committee, agreed.

"When [Indians] move overseas, we take with us our values, our way of life," Aulakh said.

"Our games are a platform to showcase that to the wider community as well."

Like past editions, Gatka (a Sikh martial art) and dastar (turban-tying) demonstrations were also organised, while cultural performances such as bhangra and giddha (folk dances from Punjab) kept the crowds entertained throughout the last weekend of November.

"[This] showcasing of our culture is significant for our next generation, who is born and brought up in New Zealand, but is still proud to be who they are and where they come from," said Parminder Singh, cultural coordinator for NZ Sikh Games.

Navtej Randhawa, a member of the Sikh Games organising committee, outlined a couple of firsts at this year's edition.

"We have introduced wrestling to sports enthusiasts in New Zealand this year, along with a male kho kho team, which has traditionally been a female sport," he said.

After the successful completion of Punjabi Games and Sikh Games in November, the community's attention turned to the Kabaddi World Cup on Sunday, where defending champion Pakistan once again fielded a strong line up.

However, this time New Zealand prevailed, with a partisan crowd of more than 12,000 cheering every point won by the host team.

The final margin was 47-32.5, with New Zealand team members Amba Sur Singh and Shilu Balhara adjudged tournament's best raider and best stopper respectively.

Kabaddi is a contact sport that has origins in the Indian subcontinent.

The sport has two styles of play: a "standard" style that is typically played indoors and a "circle" style that is played outdoors.

Teams aim to score points by raiding their opponent's court, touching as many defence players as possible in a single breath and returning to one's court without getting caught.

It is a very popular sport in northern India, mainly in the states of Punjab and Haryana, where the circle-style kabaddi is preferred.

Athletes at the New Zealand Kabaddi World Cup, Punjabi Games and Sikh Games also compete in the circle-style format.

"This is our third edition and every year we try to improve with better capacity, more facilities for spectators and getting the best kabaddi players in the world to our shores," said Sukhjap Singh, a member of the New Zealand Sikh Sports Complex and part of the World Cup organising committee.

"This year, we had teams from India, Canada, Australia and the US, in addition to the eventual winners and runners up - New Zealand and Pakistan."

The New Zealand Sikh Sports Complex is the sports wing of the Supreme Sikh Society, based in the Takanini Gurudwara.

Daljit Singh, spokesperson for the Supreme Sikh Society, said sports were an integral part of the Indian community in New Zealand.

"Especially our indigenous sports such as kabaddi, which is very popular even in our younger generation," Daljit said.

"As you can see, children from our Sikh Heritage School participated in friendly kabaddi matches on the sidelines of the World Cup," he said.

"For them to be able to see world-class kabaddi players perform right here is a big motivation to take up the sport, which has been our goal all along."