Breaking: Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr passes away at 96

On Monday morning at a Mohali hospital, Triple Olympic gold medallist Balbir Singh Senior breathed his last in. He was in his 96th year. Singh, who was a member of the 1948 London Olympics gold medal-winning Indian hockey team, apart from being the victorious side’s vice-captain in 1952 and the 1956 champions’ skipper, had been admitted to the hospital earlier this month on May 8 due to pneumonia and was on ventilator support. He passed away at 6:17 am on Monday.

Saddened to hear of the demise of one of India's most celebrated Olympians, Balbir Singh Sr. Athletes and role models such as him come very rarely, and it was an honour to know him, and I hope his example will continue to inspire athletes from around the world!

— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) May 25, 2020

Singh, whose full name was Balbir Singh Dosanjh but was called Senior to differentiate from the other five Balbirs who played for India in later years, was also the oldest surviving Olympic medallist from India, a record which now passes on to his 1948 London Olympics team-mate Keshav Dutt.

Born on December 31, 1923, to Sardar Dalip Singh and Karam Kaur at his maternal village of Haripur Khalsa, Singh went on to become one of the best center-forwards India has produced. He had started his career as a goalkeeper with his school team at Moga before playing as a defender and later a center forward. As a five-year-old, Singh was given a hockey stick by his freedom fighter father and he recalled it fondly in his autobiography “The Golden Hat-trick”.

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In the early 1940s he first played for Sikh National College, Lahore, before making the move to Khalsa College, Amritsar in 1942 on the insistence of longtime coach Harbail Singh. He would captain Panjab University in 1943, 1944, and 1945 for three All India Inter-university titles before playing for undivided Punjab in the 1947 National Championships before partition.

Singh, however, scored India’s first goal in the seventh minute against Great Britain in the final before the 25,000 crowds at Wembley Stadium in the fifteenth minute before the second. The other two goals were scored by Tarlochan Bawa and Pat Jensen as India won the final 4-0, and it was the first time the Indian flag was unfurled in a sporting event in Britain.

The Indian team with Singh as chief coach in eight championships finished each time with a tournament win including a gold medal at the 1966 Asian Games, silver at the 1970 Asian Games, bronze at the 1971 World Cup, bronze at the 1982 Champions Trophy, and silver at the 1982 Asian Games, respectively.

Singh, who stayed at the home of his daughter Sushbir Bhomia in Chandigarh, would also spend time in Canada, where his three sons lived.