India's First Glimmering Gold in Olympics

"The gold medals shone bright but India shone even brighter with pride.", is perhaps the best way to describe India's first-ever Olympic gold for its very own national sport. On the occasion of International Olympics Day, let's revisit this tale and be proud!

The Indian Hockey team posing in front of the airplane that brought them to the 1984 Summer Olympics at London; Image Source: Twitter

The Indian National Anthem echoed through the Wembley Stadium in London. The best twenty hockey players stood there with gold medals hanging from their necks. Goosebumps went through every Indian since it was the very first time India had received the gold medal as an independent country.

After winning at their national sport in their own colonizer’s homeland, the Indian National Hockey team could not help but feel a sense of pride at the 1948 Summer Olympics. The date was 12th August.

However, a lot went on behind the scenes to make this victory possible.

The backdrop at the time of 1948 Summer Olympics for India was characterized by mass bloodshed and unsettledness due to the India-Pakistan partition. This created havoc in the Indian Hockey team as well.

Some of the best hockey players from the 1936 Berlin Olympics squad - Shah Rukh Muhammad, Ali Shah Dara, Niaz Khan, and Aziz Malik - chose to play for the newly formed country of Pakistan.

With everything going on, it was difficult for the hockey team to feel united. This is where Naval Tata, chief of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), came into the picture. He made the entire squad bond over practices by setting a particular number for the number of matches they were to play, and camps they were to attend in Bombay.

Putting in so much time for practice meant that the Indian team would make it to London way after the rest of the nations. Tata had that covered as well. He arranged for the flight tickets of the entire team, which was a faster way of getting to the UK than sailing by ship. Tata bore all of the extra expenses just so that his team could be well prepared to win the Olympic Gold.

Upon reaching there, the Indian team knew it was match time. With the efforts of each player and combating every obstacle, India secured its place in the finals.

On the day of the finals, the Indian team was all geared up, with their studded boots and sticks made of fine wood, the players were all set to thrash their opponents as they stepped onto the green fields of the Wembley Stadium. The audience cheered for the British team, and India was once more put to test against their colonizers.

With skillful tactics and good sportsmanship, India bagged the gold medal, which shone bright and blinded the haters. Years later, Balbir Singh Sr. commented the following:

“It was a matter of pride that we had beaten England... It was thrilling. And now the world saluted our flag.”

Once again, India was successful in proving that it’s great at defending its own territory.