Harbinder Singh

Harbinder Singh is a former Indian hockey forward and coach whose involvement with the game spans more than six decades. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of sports, from Delhi ^[1].

Player

He was born on 8 July 1943 in Quetta and studied at Khalsa College, Amritsar ^[2]. He joined the Indian Railways in 1962 and served there for 41 years, retiring as a senior sports officer in 2003 ^[2].

He first played for India at 18, on a 1961 tour of New Zealand and Australia ^[2]. He won Olympic gold at Tokyo in 1964 and bronze at Mexico City in 1968 and Munich in 1972, and was India’s top field-goal scorer at both Tokyo and Mexico City ^[2]. He also won Asian Games gold in 1966 and silver in 1970, when he captained the side ^[2]. A fast sprinter, he also won national titles in athletics ^[2].

Coach and selector

He was chief coach of the Indian women’s team that won bronze at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul ^[2]. He served for 26 years on national selection committees and was the sports ministry’s government observer for hockey from 2011 to 2014 ^[2]. He now advises the RoundGlass Hockey Academy, which trains boys and girls in ten academies across Punjab ^[2].

Honours

He received the Arjuna Award in 1967 and Hockey India’s Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 ^[2].