The team was led by Balbir Singh Sr, who had established himself, by that time, as one of the greatest ever hockey players the world had seen.
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Back in the 1950s, the Indian hockey team was one made entirely of legends. Their performances, year after year are the stuff that dreams are made of. The nation may excel at cricket like no other in the present, but even there they have not been able to replicate the dominance that legendary hockey teams held over every other nation in the world. During that period, the Indian team had won three consecutive gold medals in the sport at the Olympics. They won the gold medal in 1948, 1952, and 1956. They failed to win the top prize in 1960, but they still managed to bag the silver, and then won the gold medal back in 1964. India had earlier won three successive Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932, and 1936. It truly was something to witness. Putting it into the context of recent history, it was quite similar to the Australian cricket team that won three consecutive World Cup titles.
The 1956 Olympics was held in Melbourne, Australia. It was the last of India’s three successive hockey triumphs. Arguably, it was their best campaign. It would be quite difficult under normal circumstances to figure out which gold medal-winning campaign of a nation was best, but this is no normal circumstance. In that particular Olympics, the Indian hockey team showed class previously unseen, and it was utterly awe-inspiring, to say the least. The reason for that is that the team did not concede a single goal throughout the campaign. They won the gold medal with the most perfect 100% record.
Going into the tournament, India was the overwhelming favorite to win the whole thing. That is understandable since they had won the gold medal in both the previous editions of The Games. What comes with that is a ton of pressure but the players proved that they were worthy of the title of favorites with their performance.
The team was led by Balbir Singh Sr, who had established himself, by that time, as one of the greatest ever hockey players the world had ever seen. He had featured in both the previous Olympics where India won the gold medal. Alongside him in the team were the likes of Leslie Claudius, Randhir Singh Gentle, Ranganathan Francis, Raghubir Lal, Govind Perumal, Udham Singh, Shankar Laxman, Gurdev Singh Kullar, and Haripal Kaushik.
It was a perfect mix of youth and experience, and with an exceptional leader in the form of Balbir Singh Sr. Ahead of their departure to Melbourne, the national side played four matches in Ambala and Mumbai, and won them all as expected. There was, however, an injury concern for the Indians. While most of the squad passed the fitness tests, Gursevak Singh, who was struggling with knee issues at the time, could not make the cut. In his place, Amit Singh Bakshi was given the opportunity.
India was drawn in Group A with the likes of Singapore, Afghanistan, and the United States. Quite frankly, none of those sides were ever going to be any match for the five-time champions. In the first match of the competition, India trounced Afghanistan 14-0. However, it came at a cost. Skipper Balbir Singh Sr was injured and was forced to sit out the next few games. There was a bit of worry among the Indian fans as their main creative attacker was out.
However, the nation unearthed a gem in Udham Singh. He had already scored four goals in the Afghanistan game and followed it up with a whopping seven goals in a 16-0 victory against the USA. He also managed to bag a brace in India’s 6-0 demolition of Singapore in their final group game. As expected, the Indians qualified for the next stages of the competition with absolute dominance and ease. 36 goals have already been scored at this point, and none conceded. Bear in mind that the team has only faced three group games and there was a lot more to come.
When the semi-final draw was revealed, fans expected India to absolutely trounce their opponent, no matter who it was. So there was a massive shock when the team was only barely able to dispatch Germany. Germany itself had a very strong team at the time and like India, was one of the favorites to win the gold medal. The slender 1-0 win planted a seed of doubt in the fans’ minds. Was it possible that the magic had finally worn off? Will there not be a repeat of the gold medal hattrick?
There could be only one stage to answer all these questions, and that was the final. The stage was all set and the scenario could not have been more perfect. India was all set to play the final at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against their neighbors, Pakistan. Pakistan had beaten Great Britain in the semis to qualify for the big match. It was almost poetic that two great cricketing nations would battle it out in another sport at one of the world’s greatest cricketing venues.
This was the final that laid the foundation for incredible India vs Pakistan rivalry in hockey that would follow. It was the first time the two nations would be playing against each other in hockey since the 1947 partition. The emotions were indescribable.
India’s star, Balbir Singh Sr was not fully fit after suffering that injury in the opening game. People thought that it would be a big miss for the Indians, and rightfully so. In a normal scenario, nobody would play someone who was not at his best in a final. However, Indian coach Harbail Singh was no ordinary coach. He had an amazing tactical mind, and it was his plan that reaped the rewards.
To everyone’s surprise, Balbir Singh Sr took to the field against Pakistan. As per the player’s account, he was to serve as nothing but a decoy for the other strikers to feed off. “He told me that even if I wasn’t able to play my best hockey, my reputation was such that the opponent would use two players to mark me and it would free up space for my other forwards,” Balbir Singh Sr said when asked what the coach had in mind. “My injury was kept a secret for the opposition and that I didn’t shake hands with anyone. Just waved. I took pain-killing injections at the start of the game and at half time and managed to play,” he added.
The match was anything but simple. Pakistan matched India in every single aspect of the game and pushed them to their absolute limit. Suddenly, everything was a lot difficult. The slick passes did not find their targets, the defence huffed and puffed to stop the waves of the Pakistan attack, and the two sides were locked at 0-0 at half time.
But the Indian resolve broke through the Pakistan resistance. A few minutes into the second half, the Indian hockey team earned a penalty corner which was pushed through by Udham Singh. Raghubir Lal trapped the ball perfectly for Randhir Singh Gentle, who swept his shot into the Pakistan goal, past the last defender.
It was 1-0. What followed was something that can be best described as a barrage of attacks by Pakistan. They were fast, they were relentless, and they were hungry. But so was India. Goalkeeper Shankar Laxman then kept Pakistan at bay, thwarting many attempts at his goal. When the dust settled, it was India that had held on to complete their first hattrick as an independent nation. It was their sixth Olympic gold in the sport, and it was well-deserved. Udham Singh ended as the highest goal-scorer with an incredible 15 goals in the tournament.
For Balbir Singh Sr, it was an emotional win. He was the flagbearer for the nation at the beginning of The Games, and he had described the feeling when he led his side out to collect their medals after a proud and thrilling experience. “That day when I led my team out to the victory rostrum, I swelled with pride. The crowd cheered us and it was a thrilling experience to acknowledge their applause,” he had said to authors Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehta in their book, Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympics. “The National Anthem sounded sweet, and the tricolor, fluttering proudly in the stiff breeze, looked a grand sight,” he added.
By no means was it an easy campaign for the Indians, especially as they lost their captain and star player in the first match of the tournament. However, they got the job done and won the sixth Olympic gold medal in the sport. It was historic, it was legendary, and it was simply one of those moments in sports that would probably never be replicated anytime soon.
