“His anticipation was uncanny, his reflexes were as quick as lightning and his fearlessness was awesome. Verily he was the Singam on the hockey ground… He is no more but his name will live forever in the annals of Indian sport,” former Inspector-General of Police F.V. Arul had said in his tribute to retired inspector Francis Ranganathan.
Ranganathan was the goalkeeper of the Indian hockey team which emerged the world champion by bagging gold at the Olympics three times in a row — London (1948), Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956).
Often described as a ‘Titan between the Posts’, Francis served the then Madras Police and retired in 1968. He passed away seven years later.
Born Manickam in Rangoon, he came to Tamil Nadu before Independence and changed his name to Francis Ranganathan after converting to Christianity. Starting his hockey career with the Madras Police, he made it to the national team as a goalkeeper. The State remembers the Olympian by conducting the Inspector Francis Memorial Hockey Tournament for schools.
After his demise, former IGP W.I. Dawaram guided his son Christi Roy to join the Tamil Nadu police as a constable. Christi Roy died in harness in 2007 at the age of 45. The application of his son, Francis Rajini Roy, seeking appointment on compassionate grounds, is pending.
On coming to know about the abject poverty facing Ranganathan’s family, former Director-General of Police S.R. Jangid met them at Pallavaram in Chennai on Tuesday.
Ranganathan was the only policeman ever to have bagged three gold medals at the Olympics. Besides, he also won three gold medals at the Asian Games.
“I felt very sad to see the family living on a tiny rented premises. They have nothing left to celebrate the achievement of the Olympian. While the player lost a medal in Melbourne, the other two are missing. I have appealed to the Tamil Nadu police to name a sports facility after him. His kin have no source of income except the family pension,” Mr. Jangid said.
When contacted, Mr. Francis Rajini Roy said there had not been a single occasion when his family got recognition for his grandfather’s contribution to the nation. “There were two photographs of my grandfather — one in uniform — which the police took for display at an exhibition. But they never returned the pictures. I understand that I am eligible for a job in the Police Department but my application has been pending since 2007. We are living in abject poverty,” he said.
