Harbinder
Singh Chimni represented India at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games
where India won Gold; at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games
where India won Bronze and at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games
where India won Bronze.
Harbinder
represented Cantonment Board High School, Jalandhar, in football.
Little
did he realise then that it is hockey and not football that
would bring him fame.
The
transformation came when he joined Khalsa College, Amritsar,
and was selected to represent the college both in hockey and
athletics.
Harbinder
Singh
He
also represented Punjab University in the Inter-University Athletics
Meet at Kanpur in 1959 and Inter-University Hockey Tournament
in 1961.
He
represented Punjab State in Junior National Athletics Meet at
Trivandrum in 1959 and National Hockey Championship at Hyderbad
in 1961 and at Bhopal in 1962.
Harbinder
(2nd left) leading India's attack against Ceylon at the Asian
Games in Bangkok in 1970
A
service with Railways followed and he represented them in the
National Hockey Championship till 1972.
He
also represented Railways athletics team in the Open National
Athletics Championship at Sangrur in 1967, winning a Gold Medal
in 4 x 100 metres relay race.
Centre-forward
Harbinder earned the national colours in hockey in 1961 when
he was included in the team that toured New Zealand and Australia.
Harbinder
(L) with coach Balkrishen Singh at Mexico Olympics
Later
he played the 1962 International Hockey Tournament in Ahmedabad
and the 1963 International Tournament in Lyons in France. He
was also in the team that played in Hamburg Festival in 1966
and the Pre-Olympic Tournament in London in 1967.
He
was a member of the team that won Gold Medal at the 1966 Asian
Games and captained the team that won Silver at the 1970 Asian
Games in Bangkok.
He
was the chief coach to the Indian women’s hockey team
which won Bronze at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul and Member
of the Junior India Selection Committee for a long time.
India's
Harbinder (L), Pakistan's Khalid Mahmood (C) & Japan's Wada
at the Victory Ceremony at Asian Games in 1970
Harbinder
earned the rare distinction to replace such great Olympic centre
forwards as Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Senior.
One
of his best matches was against Pakistan In the Hamburg Tournament
on 19 May 1966. He scored a goal straight after bully off, following
a Pakistan goal. He dribbed past 4 - 5 Pakistan players and
scored the equalizer without anyone else touching the ball.
He left everyone stunned, players and spectators alike.
Harbinder
at Mexico City Olympics
He
was awarded the Indian National Award ‘Arjuna Puraskar’
in 1967.
In 1971-72 season he received the ‘Railways Sportsman of the
Year’ Award.
