Padmashree Balbir Singh - Sikhs The Supreme

Born in 1924 in Haripur (Jalandhar), Balbir Singh Dosanjh's (Senior) name was a terror for the opposing teams. In his time the victory of India was taken for granted if Balbir, one of the best centre forwards in the world, is present on the field. He represented the country in the hockey in three successive Olympics e.g. 1948 (London), 1952 (Helsinki) and 1956 (Melbourne), which is a great achievement in itself, and won the gold medals in all the three Olympics. In 1956 Olympics, he captained the Indian team.

Thus he got distinction of being the first Indian in Hockey of Independent India to take Hat-trick of Gold in Olympics. Not only thus he made India proud by getting his name included in the list of 16 great Olympians of the world of The Mighty Sikhs / 193 all games since 1896 till date. He is the only Indian sportsperson (Neither Dhyan Chand not Sachin Tendulkar) to get thus distinction.

In 1956, India could win because Balbir gave a surprise to the opposing teams. Due to a fracture in his arm he could not play in the preliminary matches. But he surprisingly appeared on the field in the semifinal against Germany and Germany had to change their strategy to encircle Balbir. But it was of no avail and the opportunity was availed of by the co-forward Udham Singh who scored the goal. The same story was repeated in the final against Pakistan and India won the gold for the sixth time in the Olympics and also Balbir completed his hat-trick in Olympic gold medals. In 1948 London Olympics too Balbir appeared in 2nd match against Argentina and scored six goals one after another making the country victorious over Argentina with 9-1. After a pause in some matches he again suddenly appeared on the track in the final against Britain and emerged victorious over England with 4-0. Two goals in the first half were scored by Balbir. In 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Balbir scored 3 goals against Britain in semi-final and five goals against Holland in final and brought the gold for the country. In 1975, when India won its only World Cup under the captaincy of Ajitpal Singh at Kuala Lumpur, Balbir was manager and chief coach of the team. He was also the manager/chief coach of the Indian Hockey teams in 1970-1971 (World Cup Barcelona) and 1982 Asian Games, and Trophy at Amsterdam and Esanda Cup at Melbourne. He was also the member of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the Asian Games in 1958 and 1962. Apart from this, he had the honour of being flag bearer of the Indian Olympic contingent at the 1952 and 1956 games. Retired as Director of Sports Punjab in 1982, he was also the national selector from 1970 to 1974 and he was adjudged the "INDIAN SPORTSMAN OF THE CENTURY" in an opinion poll held in New Delhi that year

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