Hockey Olympian Joginder Singh passes away

Joginder Singh, a member of the gold medal-winning Indian hockey squad at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, passed away in a Kolkata hospital on Wednesday morning after a protracted illness.

Singh (63), survived by his wife and a son, was suffering from kidney problems and breathed his last at the Garden Reach Hospital of South Eastern Railway, family sources said.

In an international career which extended from 1959 to 1967, he represented India in two Olympics, the first being in Rome in 1960, where India won the silver medal in hockey.

One of the finest right-wingers India has produced, he was also a member of the Indian team which claimed the silver medal at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. The crowning glory of his career was the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

Gurbax Singh, who was his contemporary, described him as one of the finest right-wingers to ever play for the country.

Expressing shock at the death, Gurbax said: "Joginder was a real genius and a thorough gentleman."

Joginder played for and coached the erstwhile Bengal Nagpur Railway for more than 20 years till his retirement from South Eastern Railway.