Balbir Singh Sr. Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Bio
Full Name	Balbir Singh Dosanjh
Profession	Indian Hockey Player
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 173 cm in meters- 1.73 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 8”
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	White
Field Hockey
International Debut	In the 1948 London Summer Olympics against Argentina
Jersey Number	#13 (India)
Domestic Team(s)	• Punjab University (National) • Punjab Police (National) • Punjab State (National)
Coach/Mentor	Harbail Singh
Nature on field	Aggressive
Position	Centre-forward
Awards & Achievements	• Member of 3 times Olympic Gold Medal winning teams (1948, 1952, and 1956 Olympic Games). • Member of 2 times Silver Medal winning teams at the Asian Games (1958 & 1962). • First sports person to be honoured with the Padma Shri Award (1957). • In 1958, Balbir, along with Gurdev Singh, was featured on a stamp issued by the Dominican Republic to commemorate the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. • In 1982, he lit the Sacred Flame at the New Delhi Asian Games. • In 1982, the Patriot newspaper adjudged him the Indian Sportsperson of the Century. • In 2006, he was named the Best Sikh Hockey Player. • In 2015, Hockey India conferred him with the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.
Career Turning Point	In the 1948 London Summer Olympics, when he scored 6 goals (including a hat-trick) against Argentina.
Records	• Olympic record for most goals scored in men's hockey final by an individual. • The only Indian among 16 legends chosen by the International Olympic Committee across modern Olympic history.
Personal Life
Date of Birth	10 October 1924 (Friday)
Birthplace	Haripur Khalsa, Punjab
Date of Death	25 May 2020 (Monday)
Time of Death	6:30 am [1]The Hindu
Place of Death	Fortis Hospital, Mohali, Punjab
Age (at the time of death)	95 Years
Death Cause	He died after battling multiple health issues. [2]The Hindu
Zodiac sign	Libra
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Jalandhar, Punjab
School	Dev Samaj High School, Moga, Punjab, India
College	• DM College, Moga, Punjab, India • Sikh National College, Lahore, Pakistan • Khalsa College, Amritsar
Family	Father- Dalip Singh Dosanjh (Freedom Fighter) Mother- Name Not Known Brother- Not Known Sister- Not Known
Religion	Sikhism
Residence	Burnaby (Canada); Chandigarh (India)
Hobbies	Reading, Listening to Music
Favourite Things
Hockey Player(s)	Ali Iqtidar Shah (Dara), Mohd Azam, Dhyan Chand
Girls, Family & More
Marital Status (at the time of death)	Married
Wife	Sushil (m. 1946)
Children	Daughter- Sushbir Sons- Kanwalbir, Karanbir, Gurbir

Some Lesser Known Facts About Balbir Singh Sr.

• Did Balbir Singh Sr. drink alcohol:? Yes

• He was born in Haripur Khalsa; a small village in the Jalandhar district of Punjab.

• His father Dalip Singh Dosanjh was a Freedom Fighter.

• Harbail Singh, the then coach of Khalsa College Hockey Team, was the first person who spotted Balbir as a promising Hockey player.

• It was Harbail who frequently insisted on the transfer of Balbir from Sikh National College, Lahore to Khalsa College, Amritsar.

• In 1942, he was transferred to Khalsa College and began intensive training under Harbail’s guidance.

• In 1942, he was selected in the Punjab University Hockey Team and under his captaincy, the Team won All India Inter-University titles 3 years in a row: 1943, 1944, and 1945.

• He has been a member of the last team of “Undivided Punjab” that won the title at the 1947 National Championships.

• After the partition of India in the year 1947, he moved to Ludhiana along with his family where he got a posting in the Punjab Police.

• For 20 years (1941-1961), he captained the Punjab Police Hockey Team.

• Playing in his first International Match at the 1948 London Summer Olympics, he scored 6 goals (including a hat-trick) against Argentina.

• In 1952, he became the vice-captain of the Men’s Indian Hockey Team for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

• He was India’s “Flag Bearer” during the ‘Opening Ceremony’ at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
  

  Balbir Singh with the Indian Flag

• At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he again scored a hat-trick against Britain in the semi-final, which India won by 3-1.

• At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he scored 5 goals against the Netherlands in the final match and set a new Olympic record of maximum goals scored by an individual in the men’s Hockey Final Match.

• At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he scored 13 goals in total, which was 69.23% of the team’s goals.

• He captained the 1956 Olympic team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. However, he got injured in the opening match against Argentina after scoring 5 goals. The rest of the group matches were captained by Randhir Singh Gentle.

• In 1971, he coached the Indian Hockey team for the World Cup.

• He was the Manager of the Indian Hockey team, which emerged victorious in the 1975 World Cup held in Kuala Lumpur.

• He also served as Chief of the Directorate of Sports in Punjab.

• Balbir wrote two books – his autobiography, “The Golden Hat Trick” (1977), and “The Golden Yardstick: In Quest of Hockey Excellence” (2008).