6-foot-5 inch Gurpreet reaches a new high

Under the bar with his observant eyes,Gurpreet Singh Sandhu often has to deal with the aerial bombardment from some of the countrys most physical players.

Under the bar with his observant eyes,Gurpreet Singh Sandhu often has to deal with the aerial bombardment from some of the countrys most physical players. Very often he ends up on the losing side but then there are days when he makes miraculous saves. Saturday was one such moment when Gurpreet used his elastic 6-foot-5 height to make two saves for East Bengal Football Club in the IFA Shield that otherwise were impossible to reach.

James Singh,and later Bello Rasaq,knew there was no penetrating Gurpreet when the lanky goalie is on song. At the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata,as the final match against United Sports ended in a goal-less draw,a tie-breaker was called for by the referee to announce the winner. Gurpreet stretched high and low,left and right,to bring off valiant saves and make the spot kicks of two extraordinary players look ridiculously meek.

Gurpreet had saved the day for East Bengal as they lifted the IFA Shield- the fourth oldest club cup competition in the world – for a record 28 times by beating United Sports 4-2. The last Shield had come a decade ago,in the 2002-03 season. In October last year Gurpreet had won his first title as a professional player – the Super Cup – that marked his arrival on the big stage.

Both the IFA Shield and Super Cup were important,and I treasure them both. Theres nothing like treasuring only one title, shared Gurpreet,who was a part of the St Stephens Football Club before he joined the national camps,and later the Indian team. The IFA Shield came at an important juncture of Gurpreets life as he licking his wounds after being dropped from the Indian team for the AFC Challenge Cup held in Kathmandu,on the basis of his form. Gurpreet,born of steely nerves,hit back and won the Shield for the team that recognised his talent and sought his services as a youth player three years ago.

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