|
Interesting Facts Interesting Facts | Japan Team Walk out | 1972 Munich Olympic Games |
|
Interesting Facts One hundred and thirty two Sikh players have played hockey at Olympic Games since 1928. Sikhs have been in the Gold Medal winning teams on nine occasions (eight for India and one GB). Sikhs have represented eight different countries at hockey at Olympics (India, Kenya, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Canada, Uganda, Tanzania, and Great Britain). Ajit Singh of India set two records when scoring a single goal. He scored the first goal in the opening game in 1976 in the Montreal games against Argentina, which made him the scorer of the first Olympic goal on an artificial pitch. And as his shot went into the net after only 15 seconds it is also the fastest ever goal in Olympic history. Balbir Singh ‘Senior’ won three consecutive Gold Medals (1948 London, 1952 Helsinki & 1956 Melbourne). Balbir Singh ‘Senior’ is one of only two players to have won three consecutive Gold Medals and being the captain of a winning side. Udham Singh boasts the record of having won three Gold Medals (1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne and 1964 Tokyo) and also a Silver medal (1960 Rome). Balbir Singh ‘Senior’ scored five goals in a 6 – 1 Gold Medal victory over the Netherlands at Helsinki in 1952 Brothers
Balbir Singh (Railways) and Gurbux Singh played in the same
games in 1968 for India. Brothers HarmIk Singh and Ajit Singh played in the same games in 1972 for India. Brothers Rajinder Singh Sandhu & Amarjit Singh Sandhu; Kuldip Singh Bhogal & Ajit Singh Bhogal; Jagdish Singh Kapoor & Upkar Singh Kapoor played for Uganda at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. The biggest score in an Olympic hockey match is the 24 – 1 victory of India over USA played on August 11, 1932. Gurmeet Singh scored 5 of these goals. Balkrishen Singh won Olympic Gold Medal both as a player and as a coach. He was a member of the Gold Medal winning team in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was the Chief Coach of the team that won the Gold Medal in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Dharam Singh ‘Senior’ won Olympic Gold Medal both as a player and as a coach. He was a member of the Gold Medal winning team in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and was the Chief Coach of the team that won the Gold Medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. Balkrishen Singh is the only person to have coached India in 4 different Olympics – 1968, 1980, 1984 and 1992. Kenya’s Amarjit Singh Marwa and Canada’s Sarbjit Singh Dusang are the only Sikhs to have played in Goal at Olympic Games. Amarjit played at the Munich Games in 1972 and Sarbjit at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. India’s Prithipal Singh has won Gold (1964), Silver (1960) and Bronze (1968) Medals. Sikhs have played in every position at Olympic Games. Sikhs have Scored 242 goals at Olympic Games. Sikhs have been in every Indian Team since 1928. Thirty Sikhs played at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games representing Kenya, Uganda, India and Malaysia. In the pool match at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games (2nd September 1972) between India and Kenya, there were fifteen Sikhs on the field of play. Five goals were scored in that match, three by India and two by Kenya. All the goals were scored by Sikhs (Mukhbain Singh & Harmik Singh for India and Davinder Singh Deegan for Kenya). With the exception of the 1928 and 1936 Olympic Games, Sikhs have scored in every Olympic Games since 1928. Kuldip Singh represented Hong Kong at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. He scored a goal in the game against Canada. He later represented Canada at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. Avtar Singh Sohal and Surjit Singh Panesar played in four consecutive Olympic Games, 1960 Rome, 1964 Tokyo, 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich. Avtar Singh Sohal captained Kenya at three consecutive Olympic Games (1964, 1968 & 1972). He was Kenya’s Coach at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Pargat Singh is the only player to have Captained India at two Olympic Games (1992 & 1996). Harpreet Kaur Gill and Balwinder Kaur Bhatia became the first Sikh Women to represent India at Olympic Games when they played at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Gian Singh and Harbail Singh umpired classification match, Italy v Japan on 10 September 1960 at Olympic Velodrome, the only time two Sikhs have umpired together in a hockey match at Olympic Games. 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, Japan Team Walk out India’s pool match against Japan featured one of the most amazing incidents in the history of Olympic hockey. They won the match by five goals to nil without actually scoring a goal. They were awarded the match by the technical delegates of the International Hockey Federation when the Japanese team walked off the field before the final whistle and refused to return. With 15 minutes to go, the British umpire Archie Young awarded a penalty stroke against the Japanese. Inamur Rehman, who had replaced Inder at inside left, was breaking into the circle when there was a clash of sticks as he went to pass the Japanese back Katsuhire Yuzaki. The umpire decided that Inam had been fouled and presumed that a certain goal had been prevented. He, therefore, awarded the most drastic penalty. The Japanese did not first realize what decision the umpires had made. They thought the whistle had gone for a foul against their player. When the truth quickly became apparent, they surrounded the umpire, protesting and indicated the nature of the foul committed not by their player but by Inam. The umpire stuck firmly to his decision indicating a second time that he had awarded the penalty-stroke. With that several of the Japanese players threw down their sticks in disgust. In great anger, their captain led the team off the field. The Jury of appeal chairman, Mr Stewart McIldowie of South Africa ordered the Japanese manager to get his team on the field within 30 seconds but because they were so upset there was never any chance that they would return. When the whistle went for the game to resume, the Indians were still on the field watching incredulously. At least three minutes had elapsed. The Japanese did not reappear and the umpire blew his whistle again indicating that the game was over. Balbir Singh (Services) was the Indian player who was waiting to take the penalty stroke. The Japanese, it was revealed afterwards, were strongly favoured to win the Fair-play trophy which was being awarded at Mexico City Olympics tournament for the first time.
1972 Munich Olympic Games The
11 days of these Games were perhaps the greatest Olympic festival
ever. However, on the morning of 5 September, the Games were
interrupted when eight Arab terrorists, On 7th September 1972 a Memorial service was held in the Olympic Stadium in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes who had been gunned down by Palestinian terrorists the day before. Sadly the Munich Games of 1972 will always be remembered for the wrong reasons. But for Sikhs these games saw 30 Sikh players playing hockey representing India, Kenya, Uganda and Malaysia. These Games also saw the emergence of the Ugandan Hockey team who had nine Sikhs making their one and only Olympic appearance. Uganda went to these Games at a great disadvantage. They were virtual novices on the world stage. Three draws – one against the eventual champions Germany – were great results and they did finish with their solo Olympic victory. The political climate in Uganda shortly after the Olympic Games meant that all the Asian players had to leave the country on their return. The pool match between India and Kenya on 2nd September 1972 saw 15 Sikh players on the field at the same time – 10 for Kenya and 5 for India. Both the teams were captained by Sikhs, Harmik Singh captaining India and Avtar Singh Sohal captaining Kenya. India won that match 3 – 2, all five goals being scored by Sikhs, Mukhbain Singh scoring two and Harmik Singh one for India and Davinder Singh Deegan scoring two for Kenya. Sikhs scored a total of 35 goals at the Munich Games. The Munich Games were to have been followed by a special match between the Olympic Champions and a World XI. Because the hostage crisis caused a whole day of the Olympic programme to be lost, the Munich final was played on the day the World XI match should have been staged. Horst Wein and Patrick Rowley had been charged with running and selecting the World XI. They never did announce the names of the World XI players. Had the special match gone ahead, the World XI would have, without any doubt, included several Sikh players. The 26 players short listed for the World XI were: A Carrera (Spain); P Dearing (Australia); M Sikking (Holland); A Belavantheran (Malaysia); M Kindo (India); M Zaman (Pakistan); M Peter (W. Germany); A Solie (Belgium); A Singh (India); A Kumar (India); B Cotton (GB); H. Droese (W. Germany); F Fabregas (Spain); J Fabregas (Spain); F Rehman (Pakistan); B Govinda (India); R Haigh (Australia); Islahuddin (Pakistan); C Keller (W. Germany); T Kruize (Holland); K Singh (Uganda); S Maister (New Zealand); S Anwar (Pakistan); M Shahnaz (Pakistan); S Rihal (Kenya); U Vos (W. Germany) Avtar Singh Sohal (Tari) of Kenya became the first player to Captain an Olympic team at three consecutive Olympic Games and play in four Olympics. His achievements of playing in 167 internationals was recorded in Guinness Book of Records from 1979 - 1985. For the first time since 1920 a European team won the Gold Medal. Germany beat Pakistan, 1 – 0 in the final to win this honour. India’s team was captained by Harmik Singh Kenya’s team was captained by Avtar Singh Sohal Uganda’s team was captained by Rajinder Singh Sandhu For
the list of Sikh players who played at Munich Olympic Games,
click
here |
representing
the militant group "Black September" entered the Olympic
Village, took hostage and then killed 11 members of the Israeli
Olympic team - all this only 20km from Dachau. The Olympic Games
were suspended for 34 hours and a mass was held in the main
stadium to commemorate the victims. The flags of all the countries
were flown at half-mast. But the Games continued at the insistence
of the IOC President Avery Brundage, who famously said "The
Games must go on !"