Baljit deferred marriage hoping to achieve Olympics dreams

Such was his single-minded devotion to hockey that Baljit Singh, now lying on a bed at AIIMS with a damaged eye, postponed his marriage so that it does not distract him from achieving his primary goal of playing in the 2012 London Olympics.

Such was his single-minded devotion to hockey that Baljit Singh, now lying on a bed at AIIMS with a damaged eye, postponed his marriage so that it does not distract him from achieving his primary goal of playing in the 2012 London Olympics.

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Jasbir Singh Bajwa, the Chandigarh coach who groomed Baljit since he was 14, said hockey meant everything for the youngster who is on the verge of losing his full vision after a freak mishap during goalkeeping practice with a golf ball in Pune.

"He has only one goal in life, that is to play in Olympics and help the country win a medal," Bajwa told PTI.

"Baljit is engaged to a girl and the marriage was supposed to take place in December. Baljit deferred it, saying he wants to first play in Olympics before he ties the knot," Bajwa said.

Dwelling on the accident, Bajwa was baffled how the practice with golf ball took place without proper precautions.