Arjuna Awardee Gurdial Singh Malhi’s bust smash up at Village Gureh draws widespread anguish in sports fraternity 

Ludhiana, February 9, 2022: Sports fraternity has widely condemned the shameful insult meted out  to the bust of Arjuna Awardee Gurdial Singh Malhi at a stadium in his name at Village Gureh (Jagraon).The bust of this deceased Arjuna Awardee  Basketballer has been found brutally smashed and also put on fire by the miscreants late night on Tuesday.
R S Gill (DGP) Retd. and President of Punjab Basketball Association(PBA) in an emotional statement said, “ this has shocked me as the deceased Arjuna Awardee Basketballer was a passionate player and a good human”.Teja Singh Dhaliwal General  Secretary of PBA  said,  “Bust smashing is an unfortunate and shameful act of insulting a sportsperson who dedicates his life to earn laurels for the state and the country. I am sure the administration and the police will bring the guilty to book and find the conspirators who have played with the sentiments of the sportspersons.”  
Sajjan Singh Cheema, another Arjuna Awardee (Basketball), Sukhpal Brar-an Arjuna Awaardi (Volleball) too expressed anguish. The incident has also been condemned by international basketball players Parminder Singh SP City at Ludhiana, Jagdeep Singh and Parminder Singh (Jr.) and Yurinder Hayer IPS retd(VP-PBA). Senior coaches Rajinder Singh, Devinder Singh Dhindsa and Jaipal Singh said that to produce an Arjuna Awardee player is a lifetime effort of coaches and such an insult was not tolerable. 
Gurbhajan Singh Gill an eminent Punjabi poet said that, “ he personally knew  the Arunja Awardee  of 1968 who coached at Govt College Ludhiana also. The guilty should seek pardon from the almighty as they have insulted a sports icon who is no more.We should respect our icons '' . From the village Gureh, Sohan Singh(Ex Sarpanch) ,Balwant Singh Malhi, Mahinder Singh Malhi and Biprpal Singh said that people who tried to disturb peace in the village by such an act should not be pardoned. 
Sumesh Chaddha and Brij Goyal from District Ludhiana Basketball Association too condemned the incident at Gureh and hoped that the guilty would be punished suitably by the police of the area.