By Brig.(Retd.)Vijay Atray
New Delhi. 26 December 2019. The Bombay Sappers have done equally well in the field of sports.They have excelled in traditional sports like archery boxing, cricket, gymnastics, hockey, rowing and shooting . It would be apt to mention here that while Sub Maj SV Birajdar earned Life Time Achievement Award for boxing , Hony Lt Rajendra Prasad Shelke got it for rowing. The recipients of Arjun Award are Maj MA Naik, Sub Jagjit Singh , Nb Sub Kasam Khan all for rowing, Nb Sub Gopal Narayan Dewang for boxing , Nb Sub K Ravi Kumar for weight lifting and Sub Gurpreet Singh for shooting.
Nb Sub K Ravi Kumar Receiving Arjun award from President Pratibha Patil
The Bombay Sappers have always taken to swimming like fish to water and has produced an impressive number of stars at the International and National level. Hav Sambhaji Jasud held the National 200 metres Butterfly record in 1955. Some of the other aquatic species were Vithal Bhosle, Chandra Sekharan, Prahlad Kirdat, Shivaji Kirdat, Kashinath Gore, Dattu Shingle, Narayan Kadam, Sahebrao Darekar, Baliram Uttekar, Navnath Kirdat, and Kashiram Kadam. Sub Sahebrao Darekar represented at National level and won 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze medals. In water polo, Sub Hanumant Dange, Khashaba Dange, Suleiman Khan, Satdev Kamble and Datratreya Godse represented the country at the International Meet at Cairo in 1953. Hav Hanumant Barge was part of the team that won the Bronze medal at the IXth Asiad.Spr Yogesh Watve was an International Bronze medalist at the XIII th Asia Pacific Swimming and Diving Championship and won 4 Golds in various National Events. He represented the country in the Asian Swimming Championship at Busan (Korea) in April 2000. He won Gold and Silver medals at the 56th National Aquatics Championship at Kerala in September 2002.Spr Umesh Gadge also won a Silver medal and Recruit Atul Patil won a Bronze medal in this Championship. Spr Satya Prakash Yadav won a Gold medal and Spr Alex Luice a Silver medal in the All India Open Sea Swimming Championship in November 2003.Sub Vasant Ghadge has been outstanding in diving events. He has won 5 Gold, 5 Silver and 1 Bronze medals at the various National Meets. He represented the country at the Commonwealth Games at Montreal in 1978, Asian Meet in 1980 and at the IXth Asiad at Delhi in 1982. Besides, he has represented the country in various Internationals.
Among the most notable boxers are Nb Sub Namdev More who won a Silver Medal at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1966 and Sub Shivaji Bhosale who created history by being the first Indian boxer to gain a Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh in 1968 and Sapper Gundidas Kamble who won a Bronze medal at the Tokyo Asian Meet in December 1983 and later won a Bronze Medal in the 1986 Asian Games.L /Nk Major Pal Singh Silver, XII Asian Boxing Championship Bangkok 1985 Silver, II SAF Games Dhaka 1985.Hav S R Tawade won Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals and Hav Salim Ali won two Bronze Medals at the 33rd National Shooting Championship at Kolhapur in 1990.Hav Charan Singh made his mark by winning the Gold and Silver at the fourth Commonwealth Shooting Championship in the Air Rifle category held at UK in August 2002.
The Bombay Sappers have produced a number of outstanding international class athletes. Lt Peter Beck represented the country in the 100 metres event at the First Asian Games held at New Delhi and won the Gold medal. Lt S C Rastogi was the National 200 metres champion in 1953. Sub Maj Amrit Pal a four time national champion who was unbeaten in all the National Championships between 1959 and 1966, won a Silver medal for the 1,500 metres hurdles at the Asian Games at Jakarta in 1962. He represented India at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Hav P Singh won a Bronze medal at the Asian Meet Tokyo in 1979.In 1999, Nb Sub Jagannath Lakade and Hav Jaybhai D B won the Gold and Bronze medals respectively, at the International Marathon Championship. Jagannath Lakade won a Bronze Medal at the 14th Asian Athletics Championship in 2002 in the 10,000 metres event.
Sub Vithal Deshmukh of the Bombay Sappers was an outstanding hockey player who donned the National Colours in six international tournaments. He participated in the Asian Games at Jakarta in 1982 in which India won the Silver Medal. He has the distinction of captaining the Indian side during an European tour and an Indo- English test series in India. The responsibility of training the team for the Beighton Cup 1959 was made the responsibility of the Bombay Engineers Group and Centre and the team was trained by Capt J M Rai. The tournament held in May 1959 was won by the Corps of Engineers .
At the Rambagh Lake, Jaipur the Indian pair of Capt Amin Naik and Capt P K Oberoi created history by winning the bronze medal in coxed pairs, a first for the country in this event. A pioneering effort to train Other Ranks in rowing was carried out by Brig V K Bhatt and Maj N S Grewal . This sports gave the Bombay Sappers three of its Arjuna Awards. A Silver Cup was instituted by 19 Field Company to the Bombay Sappers ‘ Officers’ Mess in 1930. This was awarded to the Company for winning Match VI in the Royal Engineers Rowing Association (RERA) competitions. The Captain of the team was Sub Pahalwan Khan. The event took place when the Company was at Quetta which later moved to Kirkee.The tradition of rowing to win continues with individual International and National medals in the sport to Capt (now Cols) Jagjit Singh and Satpal Ahlawat, Nb Subs Shelke, Birbal, Kudrat Ali and Sunil Kakde, Sprs Balu Rakh, Baldev Singh and many others that increase with each championship.
Duisburg , West Germany 1983
Hav Majhi Sawaiyan a Bombay Sappers represented India in Archery at the Athens Olympics in 2004. He won a Silver medal in the Asian Championship in November 2003 held at Yangon, Myanmar and a Silver and a Bronze medal each during the Asian Grand Prix in Thailand in February 2004. Hav Harish V Kerai of the Bombay Sappers won a Silver and a Bronze medal in the same tournament.
The Bombay Sappers have produced players of national standard ; L/Hav Gopinath Chalke in 1971 and Nk Madhukar Surve in 1973 and 1974. Hav Sambhaji Kadam was member of the Indian team which won a Gold medal at the First South Asia Basketball Championship held at Guwahati in March 2001. He was also a member of the team that won a Silver medal in the Qualifying Round of the Middle Asia Zone Basketball Championship held at Delhi in July 2003. In 2005, he captained both the Services team in National tournaments and the Indian National Team in International events.Nb Sub Pandurang Patil was an International player of Volley Ball. He participated in the National Championships from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Indian team that won a Bronze medal at the Commonwealth Meet at Nottingham in the U K in 1981.In the sixties and seventies the Bombay Sappers were represented in the National Gymnastics Team by Sub Bhikaji Bhosle who held the National title for the best all rounder from 1961 to 1967. He has won 28 Golds, 10 Silvers and 1 Bronze at various National and International meets. His main events were the pommeled horse, small vaulting horse and floor exercises. Sub Bhosle and Hav Yashwant More represented India at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and won the Gold Medal at the Indo German Meet 1967, and the Silver medal at the USSR Gymnastic Meet 1962. Other gymnasts from the Bombay Sappers were Govind Uttekar, Gulab Shinde, Madhukar Bhosle, Patang Mohite, Babu More, Kerba Salunke, Sitaram Palande and Hony Capt M R Mahamunkar, who won medals at the National level. Hav Amuthoi Singh, L/Nk Tenshubam Singh, Sanjay More, Randhir Rana and Vivek Sharma have won medals at National meets.Sub Maj/Hony Capt Yashwant More represented India at the Tokyo Olympics 1964; India in the USSR Gymnastics Meet in 1964, participated in the National Games from 1964 to 1967, and won 14 Gold, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze medals in his career.
A word about the Bombay sappers ‘Boys Company is an extension of the National Sports Talent Contest Scheme to identify and nurture young sporting talent and groom them for national and international sporting events in specialized disciplines including boxing, rowing and wrestling. Boys in the age group of 11 to 14 years are selected through a due process of diligence and recruited at the Regimental Centre. The company has produced many champions ; Chhote Lal Yadav Boxing – Gold at the Asia Cadet Boxing Championships, Hanoi, Vietnam,Shivaji K Patil Wrestling – Gold at 41st Takhti Cup Sub Junior International Championships, Tehran, Iran Asian Cadet Wrestling Championships, Ibaraki, Japan ,Vishwanath Patil Wrestling – Bronze Asian Cadet Wrestling Championships, Ibaraki, Japan,Parikshit Patil Wrestling – Silver National Wrestling Scholastic, Olympics Games, Havana, Cuba and Amar Phatak Wrestling- Silver National Wrestling Scholastic, Olympics Games, Havana, Cuba.
A grueling event Triathlon includes 40 kms cycling, 1500 m swimming and 10 kms running. Nb Sub Kaptan Singh won the Gold medal at 8th Asian Triathlon Championship in South Korea in 1999. Sub S G Nirmale won 2 Silvers in the Asian Championships and at the National level he won 3 Golds and 2 Silvers. He has also been the coach of the Services team. Havs Mahesh Shinde and Akhil Sheikh were bronze medalists in 2005 in Singapore. The Services Triathlon team for World Military Games 2007 comprises of only Bombay Sappers.
Capt J S Rao set a world record by taking two hat tricks in the same innings in a first class match between the Services and North Punjab in the 1963 Ranji Trophy. He also holds the National record of taking three hat tricks in three successive innings in first class matches. The other cricketers of repute were Col M C Rao, Lt Cols S S Grewal and Ajit Gandotra.
The Bombay Sappers have produced accomplished golfers at the Services level such as Lt Col S S Sandhu and Col J S Rao who has the distinction of beating the National Champion and Asian Gold medalist Laxman Singh. The other golfers to make a name for themselves are Col P B Gurjar, Brig K S Gill, Lt Col N K Bajaj and Lt Col N S Bains. Brig S S Sandhu won Services Open Golf Champion five times.Hav R C Nair represented India in 1991-92 in the 4 Nations Tournament. He was the Services champion in 1994-95.
ADU wishes good luck to the brave Bombay sappers so that besides being an excellent sapper they also bring more laurels in the field of sports.
