The Autobiography of Balbir Singh (Senior)
By Samuel Banerjee, Vikas Publishers, 1977
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Selected for Helsinki |
Father warned me against being complacent. "Never let pride tarnish your reputation. Be humble in victory and glorious in defeat." Oh, how I loved to hear father philosophise about sports. To his students, he was a good teacher; for me, he was something of a saint. He would convey all that was needed to be said in short sentences. If he gave me a pat once in a while, it satisfied me immensely. |
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he
1952 Olympic coaching camp was held in Calcutta, the site of the 1952 national
hockey championship. Bengal had won the national title, snapping our hat trick
of victories.
Just before I left for the camp, father warned me against being complacent. "The papers are saying that you are good. Never let pride tarnish your reputation. Be humble in victory and glorious in defeat."
Oh, how I loved to hear father philosophise about sports and all that went to groom sportsmen. To his students, he was a good teacher; for me, he was something of a saint. He would convey all that was needed to be said in short sentences and leave me to ponder over them. If he gave me a pat once in a while, it satisfied me immensely.
Harbail Singh got his long awaited recognition. Along with Habul Mukherjee, he was drafted to coach the 35 probables at the pre-Olympic camp. Both were hard task-masters, but in different ways.
Habul was outspoken and impatient. Harbail was soft-spoken and calm. Habul loved flattery. Harbail abhorred it. Habul wanted the boys to sweat it out from the very start. Harbail wanted gradual conditioning.
Harbail was the one coach in India who recognized that players could burn themselves out by over-exertion. "The body cannot take punishment beyond a certain limit," he would say. But it was Habul who had the right of way, because he was supposed to be the senior coach.
Four Punjab players made it to the team for Helsinki - Dharam Singh, Raghbir Lal, Udham Singh and myself. K. D. Singh 'Babu' was the captain. Harbail Singh accompanied us as the coach, and a Calcutta barrister, M. L. Mitra, as the manager.
Author with Habul Mukherjee