Ravinder Pal Singh (6 September 1960 – 8 May 2021) was an Indian

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player and former banker. He was well known as a prominent centre-half during his playing days from 1979 to 1984. He was part of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal in

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

where

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

defeated

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

4-3 in the final.

Biography

He was born on 6 September 1960

Sitapur Sitapur is a city and a municipal board in Sitapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located 90 kilometres north of state capital, Lucknow. The traditional origin for the name is said to be by the King Vikramāditya from Lord ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. He was regarded as a person having the characteristics of an

introvert The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion Retrieved 2018-02-21.) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms ''introversion'' and ''extraversion'' were introduced into psychology by Carl J ...

according to his former teammates. He remained as a single throughout his lifetime and was survived by his niece Pragya Yadav. He graduated from the Lucknow Sports Hostel.

Career

He was well known for his aggressive display in the field during his playing days and was referred to as a complete player by his team mates. He was also lauded for his quite, calm composed attitude in the play field and also for his ball distribution. Ravinder Pal Singh was part of the Indian team which competed at the 1979 Junior Hockey World Cup. He made his maiden

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

appearance at the age of 20 representing India during the 1980 Summer Olympics and played a key role in India's triumph in the hockey tournament claiming gold medal. He also eventually represented India at the 1984 Summer Olympics which was held at

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and was part of Indian hockey team which finished at 5th position. He also went onto feature at

Hockey Champions Trophy The Hockey Champions Trophy (HCT) was an international field hockey tournament held by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). History Founded in 1978 by Pakistan's Air Marshal Nur Khan and the Pakistan Hockey Federation, it featured the wor ...

on two occasions in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and also featured in Indian team at the 1983 Silver Jubilee 10 Nation Cup in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. He also made his maiden appearance in

Hockey World Cup The Men's FIH Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The tournament was started in 1971. It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer O ...

tournament during the 1982 Men's Hockey World Cup in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

where India finished at 5th position and he was also part of Indian side which competed at the

1982 Men's Hockey Asia Cup The 1982 Men's Hockey Asia Cup was the first edition of the Asia Cup organized by Asian Hockey Federation (AHF). It was held in Karachi, Pakistan from the 12-20 March 1982 and saw seven teams compete with an eighth (Japan) not being to compete. ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

where India emerged as runners-up to hosts and arch-rivals

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in the final. He pursued his later career as a banker at the

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 49th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the ''Fortune ...

after retiring from international arena. He retired from playing field hockey because of prolonged chronic spinal injury. He represented State Bank of India hockey side in the Murugappa All India Invitation Hockey Tournament during the 1980s and 1990s post international retirement. Ravinder Pal took voluntary retirement after serving at the State Bank of India for brief period of time. He also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

during the leisure time at the KD Singh Stadium.

Death

He died on 8 May 2021 at the age of 60 in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He was admitted at the Vivekananda Hospital on 24 April 2021 after being tested positive for COVID-19. He had initially recovered from COVID-19 and was shifted to the non-COVID ICU ward on 6 May 2021 after being tested negative for the virus. However, his condition suddenly deteriorated unexpectedly on the very next day on 7 May 2021 and was put on a ventilator.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Ravinder Pal 1960 births 2021 deaths Field hockey players from Uttar Pradesh Olympic field hockey players of India Olympic gold medalists for India Field hockey players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in field hockey Sportspeople from Lucknow Indian male field hockey players Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India