Lal Shah Bokhari (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: لال شاہ بخاری; 13 January 1906 – 22 July 1959) was a

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 who represented

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He was the captain of the 15-member Indian field hockey team in the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

1932 Olympics

In 1932, he was the captain of the

India men's national field hockey team The India men's national field hockey team represents India in international field hockey competitions. The team is governed by the association Hockey India. In Field hockey at the 1928 Summer Olympics, 1928, the team won its first Olympic Ga ...

, which won the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics. There were total three teams in the tournament and every team played two matches. He played both the matches from his team. The Indian team was troubled by groupism (natives vs Anglo-Indians) that surfaced when Lal Shah Bokhari was named captain against the expectations of Broome Eric Pinniger. It appeared that Pinniger would not go with the team in protest. However, later he reconsiled and accompanied the team. The team arrived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to a rousing greeting.1932 Olympics Games – India's dominance continues

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

Opts for Pakistan

At the time of partition of India in 1947, he was serving as Hajj Officer to the Government of India and stationed at

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. He opted for

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

upon the country's independence from Britain and served as a diplomat for Pakistan—his last posting being Pakistan's ambassador to Iraq.

References

External links

*
Lal Bokhari's profile at databaseOlympics.com

1909 births 1959 deaths Olympic field hockey players for India Field hockey players at the 1932 Summer Olympics Indian male field hockey players 20th-century Indian sportsmen Olympic gold medalists for India Olympic medalists in field hockey Ambassadors of Pakistan to Iraq Field hockey players from Faisalabad Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics {{India-fieldhockey-bio-stub

1932 Olympics

Opts for Pakistan

See also

References

External links