Olympic Games:

Gurbux Singh played at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games where India won Gold Medal and was the Joint Captain at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games where India won Bronze Medal.

He was the Coach to the Indian team at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

Gurbux Singh was born at Peshawar (now in Pakistan) but he grew up in Rawalpindi, another important city of Pakistan.

After the partition, the family first moved over to Lucknow, then to Mhow and finally to Meerut from where Gurbux Singh did his graduation.

He moved to Calcutta in 1957, a city which was to ultimately become his permanent home and where his sports career was to take shape.

Gurbux initially tried his hand at badminton but then started playing hockey for his school in Lucknow.

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.

Mexico City Olympic Games

Match against Australia

Players from Left to Right: Gurbux Singh, Balbir Services, Donald Smart (Australia) and Muneer Sait (G/K)

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.

Currently Hon Secretary of Bengal Hockey Association and one of the Selectors for the Indian National Team.

Served Hockey for more than 50 years as a player, Captain, Coach, Manager, Selector, TV Commentator, Press Correspondent etc.

Gurbux Singh was awarded the Indian National Award ‘Arjuna Puraskar’ in 1966.