Kishan Lal (2 February 1917 – 23 June 1980) was an Indian

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player. He captained the Indian hockey team at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

to gold, winning independent India's first gold medal by defeating

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4-0 in the final.

Early life

Born in Mhow in 1917, Lal started playing hockey at the age of 14. In 1933, he represented Mhow Heroes and Mhow Green Walls and played for Kalyanmal Mills,

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

. In 1937, he joined the Bhagwant Club of Tikamgarh.

Career

He was selected for the Indian hockey team for the eventually canceled

1940 Summer Olympics The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from 21 September to 6 October 1940, in Tokyo City, Japan, and later rescheduled for 20 July t ...

. In 1941, he joined

Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway The Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (reporting mark BB&CI) was a company incorporated in 1855 to undertake the task of constructing railway lines between Bombay to the erstwhile Baroda State, that became the present-day Baroda (Vadod ...

(BB&CI). He played for

Central India Central India refers to a geographical region of India that generally includes the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Central Zonal Council, established by the Government of India, includes these states as well as Uttar Prades ...

in the Senior National Hockey Championship. Under his captaincy, the team won three championships in a row.

1948 Olympics

Kishan Lal captained the Indian hockey team to gold at the 1948 London Olympics. This included victories over Austria (8-0),

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(9-1),

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(2-0), and the

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(2-1) before beating

by 4-0 in the final. Lal was rated by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as an "outstanding forward on the field".

Coach

After a career spanning 28 years, he retired from competitive hockey but remained connected with the game until 1976. He served as the chief coach of the Railways Sports Control Board for twenty years, during which they won the national hockey championship 14 times and 6 draws. In 1964, he was invited to train in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. In 1968, he was invited to coach

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Personal life

Kishan Lal had four sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Devki Lal was also hockey coach. Devki died on September 21, 2009.

Death

He died on 23 June 1980 and was cremated at the Sion Crematorium in Bombay.

Awards

In 1966, he was awarded with 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 ...

by President of India Dr Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan.

Legacy

He is considered one of the greatest inside forwards in

. He is known as the fastest player in the wing position and a gentlemanly player. According to Gian Singh, "Many times, I would think he would score but invariable he would pass the ball to inside forwards or the center forward to do the finishing touch."

References

External links

*
Bharatiya Hockey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lal, Kishan 1917 births 1980 deaths Olympic field hockey players for India Field hockey players at the 1948 Summer Olympics Indian male field hockey players 20th-century Indian sportsmen Olympic gold medalists for India Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Field hockey players from Madhya Pradesh Olympic medalists in field hockey People from Mhow Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Indian field hockey coaches