Indian team joins New Zealand women's hockey tournament for first time

A women's hockey team from Punjab is poised to be the first Indian side to compete in a domestic women's hockey tournament in New Zealand.

The Punjab Warriors are scheduled to take part in the NZ Heritage Hockey Tournament in Auckland over Easter weekend.

The NZ Heritage Hockey Tournament is the flagship event of New Zealand Heritage Hockey.

Launched in 2020, the tournament features national teams from heritage organisations that compete over the four-day Easter break.

This year's tournament will run from April 18 to 21 at the North Harbour Hockey Centre.

The lineup includes teams from the NZ Indian Sports Association, NZ Asian Hockey, NZ Māori Hockey (Te Haupoi Māori o Aotearoa), NZ Pasifika Hockey, Kaiviti Heritage Hockey (Fiji), Panjab Heritage Sports and the Punjab Warriors.

The Punjab Warriors have brought a 12-member women's team to New Zealand for the competition, which is captained by Indian Olympian Gurjit Kaur.

"Almost everyone in the team is playing here for the first time and they're all feeling very excited," Kaur said.

"It's a great opportunity for the girls to be here and I'm sure they are hoping to learn a lot from their experience."

Kaur said the team was a mix of young and experienced players, with ages ranging from 18 to 30.

Playing in New Zealand was a dream come true for many of the squad, she said.

"Most of the players are either playing at a national level in India or at state level," Kaur said.

"Most of the girls are top players," said Kulbir Singh, office secretary of Punjab Hockey.

Singh, who is also the coach of the Punjab Warriors, said he was thrilled when the team received an invitation to play in the New Zealand competition.

"International exposure is always nice, and I hope the team performs well in the tournament," he said.

The team arrived in Auckland on Tuesday and visited Takanini Gurdwara's sports complex as part of their tour.

"Takanini Gurdwara and Papatoetoe Gurdwara are hosting the team here in New Zealand," said Daljit Singh, president of the Supreme Sikh Society.

"It's such a milestone for the community to bring a team from India here, and we are planning a match with the team involving community members so they can welcome them and meet them."

He said the local teams would get an opportunity to learn from the Indian side.

"There's a boys' team also on the way to participate in the tournament," he said.

Daljit said tournaments such as this would likely become more frequent in the coming years as the Indian community grew in New Zealand.

The 2023 Census showed the Indian population had surpassed the Chinese community to become the third-largest ethnic group in New Zealand.

A total of 292,092 people identified as part of the Indian community in the Census - an increase of 22 percent since 2018.

"Let's hope the teams perform well here and, hopefully, we can take some New Zealand teams to India in the future," Daljit said.

"It started five years ago with four guys thinking about how we could help our communities out," said Brett Leaver, one of the founding members of New Zealand Heritage Hockey.

Leaver said the tournament was about providing an opportunity for players and children from New Zealand's diverse communities to travel and compete.

"Being a heritage brand, it's based around more of the cultural side of things," he said.

This year, Leaver managed to bring in a Fijian team, bringing the total number of participating teams to 12.

"We are giving our community an opportunity to be seen, no matter whether you are Pasifika, Māori, Indian or Asian," he said.

Leaver said the tournament had grown in popularity over the past five years, with teams now highly competitive.

"We are really excited to host the Punjab Warriors, and we can't thank them enough," he said. "We know the audience in India are watching us."