Hockey coach Baldev Singh to be honoured with Padma Shri

Key points

• Baldev Singh, who turned the quaint town of Shahabad Markanda on NH44 into a conveyor belt for elite hockey talent, will be conferred the country's prestigious civilian honour — Padma Shri— by President Droupadi Murmu on May 25, officials said on Wednesday (May 20, 2026).
• The 75-year-old Singh arrived in Shahabad Markanda in 1982 as a coach with the Haryana Sports Department and served there for four years.
• He returned to the town in 1993, turning the hockey nursery into one of "the most productive centres for hockey talent", they said.
• Beginning his professional career with the Namdhari Hockey team, Bhaini Sahib, and armed with a diploma in hockey coaching from the Institute of Sports (NIS), Bengaluru, in the early eighties, Singh used his experience in mentoring over 80 international players and eight Indian captains in the sport.
• With the academy becoming a provincial engine for the sport, Singh occupied...