NEW DELHI (India): India’s hockey legend Gurbux Singh thanked Mohun Bagan club for awarding him this year’s ‘Mohun Bagan Ratna’.
Another hockey stalwart Ashok Kumar, a member of India’s 1975 World Cup-winning hockey team, will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“This is an honour me,” Gurbux told the media on Tuesday.
“I joined Bagan in 1968. That year I was the captain of the Indian hockey team, the Bengal team and Bagan as well. Till 1980, I played for the club and won nine Beighton Cup titles and nine league crowns as well,” said the 84-year-old.
A skilled full-back player, Gurbux made his international debut in a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1960.
He led the country to gold at the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok, and was also a member of the 1964 team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Gurbux played for Mohun Bagan from 1968 to 1980 and won Beighton Cup and Calcutta League nine times for the club.
“I was the Bagan captain in 1968 and in the same year I led India to bronze medal win at the Mexico Olympics,” added the legend.
Gurbux Singh was born at Peshawar but he grew up in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
After the partition, the family moved to Lucknow, then to Mhow and finally to Meerut from where Gurbux completed his graduation.
He then moved to Calcutta in 1957, which was to ultimately become his permanent home and where his sports career took shape.
Gurbux initially tried his hand at badminton but then started playing hockey for his school in Lucknow.
Former first-class cricketer Palash Nandy, Joseba Beitia (footballer), Pranab Ganguly (football) and Monoranjan Porel (athletics) will also be awarded. Sajal Bag (U-18) was chosen as the best youth player in football.
However, the club will not hold the customary ‘Mohun Bagan Day’ function on July 29 this year owing to the pandemic.
July 29 was the date of Bagan’s IFA Shield triumph in 1911 when they defeated East Yorkshire Regiment 2-1.
