Gurbux
started hockey at the age of 16. He represented Agra University
in 1954 – 55 and a year later won the Obaidullah Gold Cup
Hockey Championship.
He
joined the East Bengal Club in 1957 and helped them win the Beighton
Cup for the first time. Gurbux joined Calcutta Customs in 1957 and
played for Customs from 1958 to 1965.
He
opted for the Mohun Bagan Club in 1968 and played for them till
1980. It may be difficult for anyone to break his record of success
in the Calcutta League and Beighton Cup.
He
represented Bengal in the Rangaswamy Cup from 1957 to 1972, captaining
the team on many occasions and won the Aga Khan Cup in 1961.
Bespectacled
full-back, Gurbux made his international debut in 1960 as member
of the team that toured New Zealand and Australia and later played
the International Hockey Tournament in Ahmedabad in 1962.
After
a year’s gap, he was included in the team that participated
in the 1963 International Hockey Tournament at Lyons in France.
Gurbux captained the team that won Gold at the 1966 Asian Games
in Bangkok, the victory that fetched him the Arjuna Award.
He
led India on a tour to Hamburg Festival, Germany and Japan in 1966,
Sri Lanka in 1967 and the Pre-Olympic tournament in London in 1967.
He was the Joint Captain, along with Prithipal Singh to the 1968
Olympics in Mexico, where India for the first time had to be content
with a Bronze.
After
retiring from the international scene in 1968, Gurbux Singh took
to coaching and umpiring. He supervised the 1982 Asiad, was the
coach of the French team in 1974 – 75 and trained the Indian
team for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. A national selector in 1973
and again from 1980 – 85, he was the manager of the Indian
team to the 1973 World Cup and the 1983 Champions Trophy. |
