Balbir Singh Dosanjh (31 December 1923 – 25 May 2020), predominantly known as Balbir Singh Sr., he was a hockey player and was an Indian

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

player and coach. He was a three-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist, having played a key role in India's wins in London (1948), Helsinki (1952) (as vice captain), and Melbourne (1956) (as captain) Olympics. He is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time, a modern-day

Dhyan Chand Major Dhyan Chand (29 August 1905 – 3 December 1979) was an Indian field hockey player. He is widely regarded as the greatest field hockey player in history. He was known for his extraordinary ball control and goal-scoring feats, in add ...

, a legend of the sport, and is widely regarded as the sport's greatest ever centre-forward. His Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten. Singh set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6–1 victory over the Netherlands in the men's field hockey final of the 1952 Olympic Games. He was often called Balbir Singh Senior to distinguish him from other Indian hockey players named Balbir Singh. Singh scored 246 goals from just 61 international caps and scored 23 goals in just 8 Olympic matches Singh was the manager and chief coach of the Indian team for the 1975 Men's Hockey World Cup, which India won, and the

1971 Men's Hockey World Cup The 1971 Men's Hockey World Cup was the inaugural edition of the Hockey World Cup. It took place from 15 to 24 October in Barcelona, Spain. Pakistan were the inaugural World Cup winners, beating Spain in the final, 1–0. Participants The fir ...

, where India earned a bronze medal. During the London Olympics in 2012, Singh was honoured in the Olympic Museum exhibition, ''"The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games,”'' held at the Royal Opera House. The exhibition told the story of the Olympic Games from its creation in 776BC through to the London 2012 Olympic Games. He was one of the 16 iconic Olympians recognized as an example "of human strength and endeavour, of passion, determination, hard work and achievement and demonstrates the values of the Olympic Movement". Singh died at the age of 96 in

Mohali Mohali, officially Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar or Ajitgarh, is a planned city in the Mohali district in Punjab, India, Punjab, India, which is an administrative and a commercial hub lying south-west of Chandigarh. It is the headquarters of the M ...

on 25 May 2020.

Early years

Balbir Singh Dosanjh was born in a

Jat Sikh Jat Sikh or Jatt Sikh (Gurmukhi: ਜੱਟ ਸਿੱਖ) is an ethnoreligious group, a subgroup of the Jat people whose traditional religion is Sikhism, originating from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in Pu ...

family to Karam Kaur and Dalip Singh Dosanjh. His father was a freedom fighter who was absent most of Singh’s early years due to being frequently jailed. At the age of 12, Singh saw a

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

on India's 1936 Olympic hockey triumph, which sparked his interest in hockey. He was later spotted as a promising hockey player by the coach of Khalsa College hockey team. While at Khalsa, Singh led the team to three consecutive championships as captain and was soon playing for the Punjab state team. He helped the Punjab state team win two consecutive national titles in 1946 and 1947.

1948–1956

London Olympics (1948)

Singh's first appearance at the 1948 London Olympics was in the match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, India's second match. After that he played in Final against Great Britain. Singh scored the first two goals and India won by 4–0.

Helsinki Olympics (1952)

Singh was vice-captain of 1952 Olympic team, with

K. D. Singh Kunwar Digvijay Singh (2 February 1922 – 27 March 1978), popularly known as "Babu", was an Indian field hockey player. He was born in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. He is widely known for his passing ability and is considered by many to be ...

as the Captain. Balbir was India's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. He scored a hat trick against Britain in semi-final, which India won 3–1. He scored five goals in India's 6–1 win against the Netherlands setting a new Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic final in men's field hockey. The previous holder of this record was England's

Reggie Pridmore Reginald George Pridmore (29 April 1886 – 13 March 1918) was a field hockey player, who won the gold medal with the England team at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Pridmore set an Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual ...

with his four goals in England's 8–1 victory over Ireland in the 1908 Olympic final. Singh scored nine of the India's total 13 goals at the Helsinki Olympics, 69.23% of the team's goals. In 1954, he captained the

Indian Hockey Federation The Indian Hockey Federation was the administrative body of field hockey in India. Incorporated in 1925, it was under the global jurisdiction of the International Hockey Federation. Background The IHF was formed on 7 November 1925 in Gwalio ...

XI side that toured Malaya and Singapore. India won all 16 matches played, with Singh top-scoring for his team with 44 goals in the tour.

Melbourne Olympics (1956)

Singh, captain of the 1956 Olympic team, scored five goals in the opening match against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, but was then injured.

Randhir Singh Gentle Randhir Singh Gentle (September 22, 1922 – September 25, 1981) was an Indian field hockey player and coach. He was part of the Indian team that won three consecutive gold medals in the Summer Olympics, from 1948 to 1956. Gentle is one of o ...

captained the rest of the group matches. Singh had to skip the group matches, but played in the semi-final and the final. India won the final match against Pakistan with a result of 1–0. In total of 8 Olympic matches he played he scored 23 goals for his nation

Post-1956

In 1957, Singh became the first recipient of the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

award in the sports category. He was also a member of the Indian hockey team that won the silver medal at the

1958 Asian Games The 1958 Asian Games, officially the Third Asian Games () and commonly known as Tokyo 1958 (), were a multi-sport event held in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 May to 1 June 1958. It was governed by the Asian Games Federation. A total of 1,820 athletes repr ...

. He coached the 1971 Indian hockey team for the Hockey World Cup, where India earned the bronze medal. In 1975, he was the manager of the victorious Indian World Cup hockey team. He wrote two books: his autobiography ''The Golden Hat Trick'' (1977) and ''The Golden Yardstick: In Quest of Hockey Excellence'' (2008).

Awards and achievements

In 1957, Singh was the first sports personality to be honoured with the Padma Shri award. He and Gurdev Singh were featured on a stamp issued in 1958 by

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to commemorate the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He lit the Sacred Flame at the Asian Games 1982 held at New Delhi. That same year, he was adjudged to be the ''Indian Sportsperson of the Century'' in a national poll conducted by the Patriot newspaper. In 2006, he was named the ''Best Sikh Hockey Player''. Describing himself as a secular nationalist, he stated that he was not convinced about the idea of having a religion-based list of players, but accepted the award since he believed it might be good for the promotion of Indian hockey. In 2015, he was conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award of Hockey India. On May 25, 2021, the Mohali International Hockey Stadium was renamed the ''Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium'' in honor of his death anniversary.

Erroneous reports

Although the record for most goals by an individual in an Olympic final belongs to Singh there have been many erroneous media reports over the years claiming that Dhyan Chand scored six goals in India's 8–1 victory over Germany in the 1936 Olympic final. In his autobiography titled "Goal!", however, published in 1952 by Sport & Pastime, Chennai, Chand wrote: ''“When Germany was four goals down, a ball hit Allen's pad and rebounded. The Germans took full advantage of this and made a rush, netting the ball before we could stop it. That was the only goal Germany would score in the match against our eight, and incidentally the only goal scored against India in the entire Olympic tournament. India's goal-getters were Roop Singh, Tapsell and Jaffar with one each, Dara two and myself three. Additionally, the International Hockey Federation records also attribute only three of the eight goals to Chand in the Berlin Olympic final.

Film and literature

The character of Himmat Singh in Gold (movie) was loosely inspired by Balbir Singh Dosanjh and various scenes shown were inspired from true incidents as Balbir was indeed handcuffed by British official as they wanted him to play forcibly for Punjab Police team.

References

External links

*
Autobiography: The Golden Hat Trick
(1977) {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Balbir Sr 1923 births 2020 deaths Punjabi Sikhs Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Olympic field hockey players for India Field hockey players at the 1948 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1952 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1956 Summer Olympics Indian male field hockey players 20th-century Indian sportsmen Olympic gold medalists for India People from Jalandhar district Field hockey players from Punjab, India Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1958 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games field hockey players for India Medalists at the 1958 Asian Games Indian field hockey coaches Deaths from pneumonia in India Deaths from bronchopneumonia Asian Games silver medalists in field hockey