Olympics have been the highest platform of sporting excellence. As the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” suggests “faster, higher, stronger” are the most important words in sports. The motto describe the Olympic spirit and inspire the athletes to perform to their best of abilities. If it weren’t Olympic Hockey, India’s participation at Olympics is limited to very few podium finishes. Today we’ll talk about the glory days, India had in Olympic Games. We’ll sneak peek into the history to read about 8 Indian Captains who led their teams to Olympic Hockey gold medals.
8. Moscow 1980 Summer Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic Games at Moscow in 1980 were the last edition of Olympic Games which saw glory days of Indian Hockey. Since then, the Indian team have been searching for their best set of performances at the Olympic Games.
Baskaran led the Indian team to this feat in Russia. It was a six match journey for India towards glory which India traveled unbeaten. India started off with 18-0 win over minnows Tanzania. Surinder Singh Sodhi was the top goalscorer with 5, while Davinder Singh and Indian Skipper scoring 4-each. Other goalscorers were Zafar Iqbal with 2, and Mohammed Shahid, Mervyn Fernandis & Maharaj Krishan Kaushik with a goal each.
In the second and third match, India drew with Poland and Spain. Davinder Singh and Mervyn Fernandis were goalscorers against Poland while Surinder Singh Sodhi made the scoreboard moving against Spain.
India went on goal galore again in the fourth match in a 13-0 win over Cuba. Captain Baskaran scored once while Surinder Singh Sodhi again spearheaded the goalscoring with 4 goals. Mohammed Shahid, Davinder Singh, Rajinder Singh, Amarjit Singh Rana listed their names twice on the scoreboard.
In the fifth match, India defeated hosts Russia 4-2. The goal scorers were Surinder Singh Sodhi who scored twice and Davinder Singh & Maharaj Krishan Kaushik who scored apiece.
With 3 wins and 2 draws to their credit, India entered the final against Spain. India defeated Spain 4-3 this time to take the highest pedal on podium. Surinder Singh Sodhi scored twice while Mohammed Shahid and Maharaj Krishan Kaushik scored once. India were champions!!
Surinder Singh Sodhi was the highest goal scorer for India while Mohammed Shahid got credit for creating opportunities. This was 8th of the 8 Olympic Hockey gold medals India won.
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