Golak Samal was an Indian former association football player and athlete, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

and the India football team.

Career

Samal represented the

state in the

Santosh Trophy The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), th ...

for nearly ten years from 1946 till 1955. He was part of the team which reached the semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy for the first time in the 1950–51 edition held at Calcutta. Samal also competed in athletics in 100m sprint, long jump and pole vault and won the pole vault national gold medal in 1948. He represented Orissa in national athletics championships from 1946 to 1962.

International career

Samal was part of the India national squad that toured Afghanistan in 1955.

Personal life

Samal worked as a football coach for the Sports Department of

Government of Odisha The Government of Odisha and its Districts of Odisha, 30 districts consists of an executive branch, executive, led by the List of Governors of Odisha, Governor of Odisha, a judiciary, and a legislative branch. Like other states in India, the ...

. His son Erick Samal also represented the

team. He received the Biju Patnaik Award for promotion of Sports in 2001.

References

Indian men's footballers Sportspeople from Cuttack Footballers from Odisha India men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Indian male sprinters Athletes from Odisha 1920s births 2008 deaths Indian male long jumpers Indian male pole vaulters {{India-footy-forward-stub