Sardar Surjit Singh Randhawa (10 October 1951 – 6 January 1984) was an Indian field hockey player, who played for

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 ...

at the

1976 Montreal Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

. He was a full back and captain of

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 ...

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 ...

team. He got his training from DSP Ajit Singh Ahluwalia.

Early life and education

Born in

Batala Batala is the eighth largest city in the state of Punjab, India in terms of population after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Mohali and Hoshiarpur. Batala ranks as the second-oldest city after Bathinda. It is a municipal cor ...

, Punjab, Singh studied in Guru Nanak School, Batala, and later at

Lyallpur Khalsa College Lyallpur Khalsa College is a multi-faculty co-educational college located in Jalandhar, Punjab. The college is one of the biggest colleges in region in context of student strength, academic courses offered and co-curricular and sports achievemen ...

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

, where he started playing university level hockey tournaments. Sikhhockeyolympians

Career

After finishing college he joined the Punjab Police Force for a few years. He made his debut in the second

Hockey World Cup The Men's FIH Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation. The tournament was started in 1971. It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics. ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 1973. He also played for India in the

Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in 1972, the 1974 and 1978

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

, the 1976

Montreal Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

, the

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

in 1978, and the 1982 World Cup held at

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. He was also the part of the winning team in 1975

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. He was the first to score for India in the 1975 World Cup. He was included in the World Hockey XI in 1973 and the All-Star Hockey XI the next year. He was also the top scorer-both in the Esanda International hockey Tournament at

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and the

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games (), also known as Bangkok 1978 (), were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, ...

. In his career he was able to score 4 Olympic goals. Initially he worked briefly with

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

and

Indian Airlines Indian Airlines was a state-owned airline in India that later became a division of Air India Limited before ultimately ceasing operations. It was based in Delhi and focused primarily on domestic routes, along with several international servic ...

and finally with Punjab Police.

Personal life

His wife Chanchal Randhawa was also international field hockey player, who led

India women's national field hockey team The Indian women's national field hockey team represents India in international field hockey, and is governed by Hockey India. They are ranked 9th in the world and the second best team in Asia. They have won the gold at the 2002 Commonwealth ...

in the 1970s. His Son Sarbrinder Singh Randhawa was a world-level Lawn Tennis Player, who represented India in various international tournaments across the world. He is also an Asian Games Runners up which were held in Indonesia.

Death and legacy

Surjit Singh died in a car accident in 1984 near Kartarpur in

Jalandhar district Jalandhar district is a district in Doaba region of the state of Punjab, India. The district headquarters is the city of Jalandhar. Before the Partition of India, Jalandhar was also the headquarters of the Jalandhar Division, with constituent ...

after his retirement from the game. The hockey stadium in Jalandhar, the

Surjit Hockey Stadium The Surjit Hockey Stadium, also sometimes spelled as Surjeet Hockey Stadium, is a field hockey stadium in Jalandhar, Punjab, India. It is named after Jalandhar-born Olympian Surjit Singh. This stadium is home of the franchise Sher-e-Punjab ...

, is named after him. In 2000, with the persistent efforts of Surjit Singh's family, the ancestral village of Surit Singh was renamed after him. Initially it was called "Dakhla", but now it is known as "Surjit Singh Wala" A hockey academy named after him is also being run by the Government of Punjab. In 1984, after his death, the

Surjit Hockey Society The Surjit Hockey Society is an Indian society established in 1984 after Olympian Sardar Surjit Singh Randhawa. Since its establishment the society has organized the Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament in Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city ...

was established in Jalandhar, and it organizes the annual

Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament The Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament (also known as the Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament for sponsorship reason) is organized by Surjit Hockey Society every year in Jalandhar, Punjab. The tournament was instituted in memorial of Sur ...

in Jalandhar, every year, In 2007, with the efforts of Surjit Singh's family, a statue was installed in Batala to commemorate the legendary hockey player. In 2012, in an effort to revive the sport in the state, Government of Punjab announced its decision to support the society. He was posthumously awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

in 1998.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Randhawa, Surjit Singh 1951 births 1984 deaths Olympic field hockey players for India Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Indian male field hockey players 20th-century Indian sportsmen Punjabi Sikhs Road incident deaths in India Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games field hockey players for India Indian police officers Field hockey players at the 1974 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 1978 Asian Games Field hockey players from Jalandhar Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists in field hockey