Good Sports: Announcing NHL Games, From Punjabi to English
Harnarayan Singh, the first Sikh playby- play hockey announcer, was featured in a recent episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO. After broadcasting more than 700 games in Punjabi for hockey fans in Canada, Singh made history on Jan. 14, 2021, when he became the first Sikh broadcaster to call an NHL game in English.
“I love what I’m doing,” he told Real Sports. “I love calling hockey games. I love being at the arenas. I love being the voice of the game. I can’t get enough of it. So, no, it doesn’t get old, and I hope I’m doing this forever.”
This is the second time that the 38-year old Hockey Night in Canada play-by-play commentator has been featured on the HBO show. In 2016, the show highlighted Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition, a Punjabi language broadcast that was started by CBC to attract more viewers and promote the sport to the growing population of Punjabispeaking Canadians.
More of ChaiTime here:
http://www.khabar.com/magazine/chaitime/
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
