The Autobiography of Balbir Singh (Senior)
By Samuel Banerjee, Vikas Publishers, 1977
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India win Final |
In extreme-left Rajagopal, we had an extremely fast winger. He was a juggler with the stick and an excellent sprinter. One of his crosses was a beauty; I only had to lunge out and deflect the ball into the goal. On the right-wing, Raghbir Lal engineered a good move and sent the ball across. I latched onto the ball and beat the goalkeeper for another goal. |
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ur
skipper K. D. Singh 'Babu' played very well in the final. That day he was in the
mood to 'make' the ball for his colleagues in the forward line, and was prepared
to pass
at the earliest opportunity.
One of the goals in our victory was a gift goal. I got a pass from Babu and cut past the centre-half with a body dodge that had him going the other way. The Holland right-back came charging up to meet me. I caught him on the wrong foot.
At the stage, I had entered the circle, with me chasing the ball and the right-back in hot pursuit. With the goalkeeper still on the line, I back-passed the ball with my reverse stick. The ball caught flush on the stick of the right back and ricocheted into the goal. It was a freak goal, a pure accident.
In extreme-left Rajagopal, we had an extremely fast winger. He was a juggler with the stick and an excellent sprinter. One of his crosses was a beauty; I only had to lunge out and deflect the ball into the goal.
On the right-wing, Raghbir Lal engineered a good move and sent the ball across. I latched onto the ball and beat the goalkeeper for another goal.
I was in my elements that day and scored five of my team's six goals. The match gave me another hat-trick, my third in Olympic hockey. Holland got a consolation goal, but overall it was a one-sided final.
K. D. Singh 'Babu' got the famous Helms Award as a measure of recognition of India's fine showing in the Helsinki Olympics.
Author at the 1952 Helsinki Games