Behind the scenes of the largest Indian sports extravaganza in New Zealand

Despite last weekend's atrocious weather, the sixth New Zealand Sikh Games were a resounding success, organisers say.

Held on 30 November and 1 December at sports facilities in South Auckland, including Bruce Pullman Park in Takanini, the largest Indian sports extravaganza in New Zealand hosted more than 1500 athletes from all over the country.

The players competed in traditional Indian sports such as kabaddi (a contact sport that is popular in the subcontinent) and kho kho (a form of tag dating back to prehistoric India), as well as well-known activities such as weightlifting, soccer, hockey, basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton, cricket, tennis and athletics.

Gatka (a Sikh martial art) and dastar (turban-tying) demonstrations were also organised, while cultural performances such as bhangra and giddha (folk dances from Punjab) kept the crowds entertained on Sunday.

A few Australian teams - with a large contingent of supporters in tow - competed in volleyball, kabaddi and basketball.

"We [also] had participants and spectators from Canada, [the] UK and, of course, from India - both from Punjab and Haryana," said Daljeet Singh Sidhu, president of the organising committee. "This time we had some kabaddi players from Haryana (an Indian state neighbouring Punjab) who are very popular in the community here."

While persistent rain forced the opening ceremony to be abandoned on Saturday, Sunday's sizeable crowd meant the weekend wasn't a complete washout.

"This year we were expecting the crowd to exceed 50,000 over two days. With a day washed out, we are still glad over 40,000 attended the games," Sidhu said. "It takes us six months of planning to put New Zealand Sikh Games together. My entire team is very happy that we're able to pull this off every year, with participation growing."

Gurwinder Singh Aulakh, secretary of the organising committee, said more than 100 volunteers worked for months to make the games possible.

"The langar service for lunch and dinner during the two days was provided by the Shri Guru Ravidass Gurdwara (Sikh temple) located in Pukekohe," Aulakh said. "With so many people coming from outside Auckland, we have put them in lodges in South Auckland and are running five taxis for 12 hours daily to aid their commute to and from the sporting venues."

Langar is a Sikh practice whereby visitors to a gurdwara are served vegetarian food free of charge irrespective of religion, caste, gender, economic status or ethnicity.

Ram Singh Choudhary, the person responsible for overseeing the langar, believed that more than 50,000 plates had been served over the weekend.

"We started planning for this massive langar over a month ago as it takes time to arrange materials and assign duties for people to cook and bring the food [to] Bruce Pullman Park," he said.

Puran Singh, president of Gurdwara Sikh Sangat Tauranga and responsible for the jalebis (an Indian sweet) at the langar, wanted no one who visited the games to go home hungry.

"We have served over 1000 kilos of jalebis to [the crowd] over the course of two days," he said.

Organisers highlighted the participation of women at the games.

Gursharanpreet Kaur, winner of the deadlift competition after lifting 150 kilograms, wanted more women to take up the sport.

"Indian women are known to be skinny. So whomsoever gets out there and does weights, they are so cool," she said. "We had so much support while competing. It was fun. I hope more women come out and do it."

While kadabbi remained the most popular attraction at the games - with Botany Sports and Cultural Club taking this year's title - spectators also watched soccer games in large numbers.

The Punjabi Knights Sports and Cultural Club became the first team from New Zealand to lift the men's football trophy at the 36th Australian Sikh Games earlier in the year.

The Auckland-based team, which was established in 2011, won the title at home as well.

"We have teams in football, netball and touch rugby," said Ash Singh, captain of the club. "We train for about six months in a year and focus a lot on youth development."

Noorpreet Singh Badwal, a member of the Super Sikhs Sports and Cultural Sydney volleyball club, said his team liked playing in New Zealand.

"It's a really warm feeling we get every single time we come," he said. "We hope more teams from Australia come here in future."

The 2024 tournament was given a significant cultural boost by the inclusion of turban coach Gurjeet Singh, who ran a stall demonstrating an array of turban-tying techniques.

"There are 52 ways to tie a turban," Singh said as he wound a turban around a man's head. "It all depends on what suits one's face."

Singh said he wanted to raise awareness about what turbans mean to Sikhs and encourage young members of the community to embrace it.

"For Sikhs, the turban is considered part of our body," he said. "It sits on top of our heads like a crown sits on a king's head."

The 2023 Census shows that Punjabi is the fastest-growing language in New Zealand.

The growing interest in Punjabi has prompted entrepreneurs such as Jaspreet Singh to set up a service called Kitab Hut that promotes the language.

"We ... started promoting Punjabi books for all ages six months ago," Singh said. "We visit gurdwaras in and around Auckland on weekends to promote the language. To our amazement, the interest is growing so rapidly that our imports [of Punjabi books] are already many times over in less than a year."

Navtej Randhawa, a fourth-generation Indian New Zealander from Punjab, said the Sikh Games had brought families and communities together since they were first held in 2019.

"It gives our children a chance to participate in cultural performances and sports," Randhawa said. "Communities other than the Punjabis also come in big numbers and get a chance to experience Sikh culture."

Kiwi Indian entrepreneur Mahesh Muralidhar has tried to attend the games each year.

"It's fantastic for the Indian community to be represented so well in such a wholesome way," Muralidhar said. "[The games] are such a fantastic representation of our diaspora here in New Zealand."

Robin Atwal, event manager of the games, highlighted the economic benefits the tournament brought to the local economy.

"With such a large congregation of people at one place, it always gives the local economy a major boost, which is much needed these days," Atwal said.