Brigadier Harcharan Singh VSM (born January 15, 1950) is an Indian field hockey player. He was a member of bronze medal winner India men's national field hockey team at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.[1]
Harcharan Singh | |
|---|---|
_Harcharan_Singh.jpg) Singh in Amritsar, February 2022 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 January 1950 Marar, Punjab, India |
| Spouse | Dilraj Kaur |
| Children | 2 |
| Occupation | former Field Hockey Player, Motivational Speaker |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  India |
| Branch/service |  Indian Army |
| Years of service | 1969–1999 |
| Rank | 
Brigadier |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's field hockey | ||
| Representing India
| ||
Olympic Games  | ||
 |
1972 Munich | Team |
| Hockey World Cup | ||
|
1971 Barcelona | Team |
 |
1973 Amsterdam | Team |
 |
1975 Kuala Lumpur | Team |
| Asian Games | ||
|
1970 Bangkok | Team |
|
1974 Tehran | Team |
Early life, Education and Army
editHe was born in Marar, Gurdaspur, Punjab. He joined the Indian Army, long after he began playing hockey in 1969. Singh explains, “I joined the Army quite late. The reason being my lack of fluency in English. I studied at the Khalsa Government school in rural Punjab. To qualify to an officer in the Services, one must be fluent in English. I picked up the language but struggled a lot to move up the ranks in the early stages of my career in the army.. [2]
Harcharan Singh is the uncle of the Indian cricketer Balwinder Sandhu.[3]
Field Hockey
editSingh was member of India men's national field hockey team which won Bronze in 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich. Singh was also member of Indian Hockey Team which won Bronze in 1971 Barcelona Hockey World Cup, Silver in 1973 Amsterdam Hockey World Cup and Gold in 1975 Kuala Lumpur Hockey World Cup. In Asian Games Singh's team won Silver medals in 1970 Asian Games held in Bangkok and 1974 Asian Games held in Tehran. Singh also competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics.[4]
Awards
editSingh was awarded Arjuna Award in 1977. He was awarded Vishisht Seva Medal for distinguished services to the nation while serving in the Army in 1981, the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by the Punjab Government in 2019 which acknowledged him as a Punjab sports legend and the Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Achiever’s Award among 400 prominent Punjabis globally, also in 2019 by Capt. Amarinder Singh on the occasion of 550th Prakash Purb celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
References
edit- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Harcharan Singh". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
- ^ "HOCKEY HERO HARCHARAN: LEFT WAS CERTAINLY RIGHT FOR THIS STICK ARTIST". stick2hockey.com. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ Sandhu, Balwinder, The Devil's Pack, Rupa and Co, p.146
- ^ "Olympedia – Harcharan Singh".
External links
edit
  | This article about an Indian Olympic medalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This biographical article relating to an Indian field hockey figure is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |