Hockey India League | Serving doping ban to wearing Olympic medal: Jarmanpreet Singh's redemption

Bengaluru: On January 5 next year, Jarmanpreet Singh will storm into the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai as the captain of the SG Pipers for their opening game of the Hockey India League.

For the Indian defensive mainstay, with 142 senior international caps to his name, it is sure to be a life-comes-full-circle moment as only fading scars of a decade-long wound remain. 

“I’m not ashamed of talking about it. Ask me anything and I will answer,” Jarman tells DH as he addresses the elephant in the room. 

The backstory: Touted as a future star, an 18-year-old Jarman was picked up by the Punjab Warriors for the 2015 edition of the Hockey India League (HIL) and was a guaranteed member of the Indian squad for the 2016 Junior World Cup (which they won). Fate, however, had other plans as the Punjab player’s dope test returned positive in February 2015 resulting in a two-year suspension that kept him away from the big events he was meant to be a part of. 

“I did not do anything intentionally. It was a mistake due to lack of awareness. That was the darkest phase of my life,” begins the now 29-year-old. 

“One day I was told I will be banned as my dope tests were positive. I was in shock, my legs were shaking, I felt that my career was over, my life was over because I cannot play anymore. Then the heads at Hockey India made me sit, calmed me down and asked me to think if I had taken any medicine in the last two weeks. 

“I called my father, he reminded me a doctor back home had given me a pain killer for a back issue. I told my team doctor who asked me for the prescription. That’s how we found out that the medicine injected had banned substances. We weren’t aware, the doctor who gave it didn’t know and I was caught in a loop.” 

What transpired was a year-long court case in Delhi where the father and son duo went on to fight against the ban but failed to reverse the inevitable. One year done and with another 365 long days to go, it felt like a life sentence for Jarman and his family. 

“‘Aapke bete ne drugs liya hai?’ (your son has taken drugs?) were the pointed questions posed to my parents. They hardly spoke back and endured it without telling me. I was asked to get out of the stadium. I wasn’t allowed anywhere near kids. I was asked to stay inside my room, eat at the mess when nobody is around. 

“But my younger brother (Sandeep) didn’t let me give up. Twice a day, me and him practiced on the turf when it was empty. Sometimes I would practice and fall, I cried, I constantly asked him if I could get back to the Indian team, he never lost faith. See, that’s why I have a tattoo of his name here (above the inked Olympic rings on his right forearm). To avoid societal scrutiny and not worrying about the financial burden, my parents sent me to New Zealand and Australia for a few months where I regained my confidence,” recollects Jarman. 

Returning to make his senior India debut in 2018, the willowy defender has since been a part of Indian teams that have won gold at the 2022 Asian Games, gold in the 2023 and 2024 Asian Champions Trophy, silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2025 Asia Cup and the bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The life lessons learnt on and off the pitch have taught Jarman the importance of being a giver. And the lone sporting hero from his village Rajdhan in Amritsar, has joined hands with the local government authorities to set-up a sporting facility that will have a hockey pitch, football ground, volleyball court and a small athletic track.

The land demarcated for the same already has a fully-equipped indoor gym for everyone in the hamlet, without any sporting history or culture, to make use of. 

One cannot help but wonder if this is an act of redemption? No, it certainly is not! Because for Jarman, giving without expecting anything in return comes naturally as he understands the repercussions of losing all too well. 

“I want to share my story because I don’t want any youngster to go through such an experience. I’m lucky to have a supportive family and Hockey India who protected me as I was so young. My team-mates never remind me of my past and Craig (Fulton, head coach of current Indian men’s side) has been a friend more than a coach as he understands a person first to make him a better player,” says the Arjuna Awardee. 

Jarmanpreet’s story is about having it all and losing everything only to earn it all back and more. It is about transforming jeer into cheer - a rebirth of a ‘dope offender’ once shunned away who will soon lead to be called ‘Aye, aye Captain!’.