Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommended the name of hockey legend Balbir Singh for conferring the Bharat Ratna.
Sardar Balbir Singh (Senior), besides being a three-time Olympic gold medallist, has been recommended by the International Olympic Association for the rare honour of featuring him as one of the 16 greatest sportspersons of all times in the world since the start of the Olympic games. He is also the only player in the world to score five goals in an Olympic final of any team sport, an unchallenged record since 1952 and is featured in the Guinness World Records.
Three great winsA statement from the Chief Minister’s office said that Mr. Badal has asked the Prime minister to consider Sardar Balbir Singh’s name also because he led the Indian hockey team to its third successive Olympic gold and featuring in all three as a player (1948, 1952 and 1956). And after his playing days were over, the hockey player continued to serve the nation steering India as team manager at the country’s only World Cup triumph at Kuala Lumpur in 1975.
“Sardar Balbir Singh shines as a rare and most outstanding legend in his lifetime, and no other sportsperson in the country or for that matter from any other country has ever scaled the heights of Olympic glory as he has done,” said Mr. Badal in his letter.
