Sardar Surjit Singh Randhawa (10 October 1951 – 6 January 1984) was an Indian field hockey player, who played for

India men's national field hockey team The India men's national field hockey team represents India in international field hockey competitions, and is governed by Hockey India. The team was formerly under the control of Indian Hockey Federation. India was the first non-European team t ...

at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He was a full back and captain of

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 ...

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 ...

team. He got his training from DSP Ajit Singh Ahluwalia.

Early life and education

Born in

Batala Batala is the eighth largest city in the state of Punjab, India in terms of population after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, Mohali and Hoshiarpur. Batala ranks as the second-oldest city after Bathinda. It is a municipal corpo ...

, Punjab, Singh studied in Guru Nanak School, Batala, and later at

Lyallpur Khalsa College Lyallpur Khalsa College is a multi-faculty co-educational college located in Jalandhar, Punjab. The college is one of the biggest colleges in region in context of student strength, academic courses offered and co-curricular and sports achievemen ...

Jalandhar Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...

, where he started playing university level hockey tournaments.Surjit Singh Randhawa
Sikhhockeyolympians

Career

After finishing college he joined the Punjab Police Force for a few years. He made his debut in the second

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 ...

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in 1973. He also played for India in the

Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

in 1972, the 1974 and 1978

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

, the 1976

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, the

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in 1978, and the 1982 World Cup held at

Bombay 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- ...

. He was also the part of the winning team in 1975

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. He was the first to score for India in the 1975 World Cup. He was included in the World Hockey XI in 1973 and the All-Star Hockey XI the next year. He was also the top scorer-both in the Esanda International hockey Tournament at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

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and the

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games () were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, was de ...

. In his career he was able to score 4 Olympic goals. Initially he worked briefly with

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

and

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and finally with Punjab Police.

Personal life

His wife Chanchal Randhawa was also international field hockey player, who led

India women's national field hockey team The Indian women's national field hockey team (nicknamed the ''Nabhvarna'') represents India in international field hockey, and is governed by Hockey India. Nabhvarna are currently ranked 6th in the FIH World Rankings, and are ranked as the b ...

in the 1970s. His Son Sarbrinder Singh Randhawa was a world-level Lawn Tennis Player, who represented India in various international tournaments across the world. He is also an Asian Games Runners up which were held in Indonesia.

Death and legacy

Surjit Singh died in a car accident in 1984 near Kartarpur in

Jalandhar district Jalandhar district is a district in Doaba region of the state of Punjab, India. District headquarters is Jalandhar city. Before the Partition of India, Jalandhar was also the headquarters of the Jalandhar Division, with constituent districts J ...

after his retirement from the game. The hockey stadium in Jalandhar, the Surjit Hockey Stadium, is named after him. In 2000, with the persistent efforts of Surjit Singh's family, the ancestral village of Surit Singh was renamed after him. Initially it was called "Dakhla", but now it is known as "Surjit Singh Wala" A hockey academy named after him is also being run by the Government of Punjab. In 1984, after his death, the Surjit Hockey Society was established in Jalandhar, and it organizes the annual Surjit Memorial Hockey Tournament in Jalandhar, every year, In 2007, with the efforts of Surjit Singh's family, a statue was installed in Batala to commemorate the legendary hockey player. In 2012, in an effort to revive the sport in the state, Government of Punjab announced its decision to support the society. He was posthumously awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

in 1998.

References

External links

Surjit Singh Randhawa, Biography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Randhawa, Surjit Singh 1951 births 1984 deaths Olympic field hockey players of India Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Indian male field hockey players Indian Sikhs Road incident deaths in India Recipients of the Arjuna Award Asian Games silver medalists for India Indian police officers Asian Games medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 1974 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 1978 Asian Games Field hockey players from Jalandhar Medalists at the 1978 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games