[hothatchaway]

He was a legend and a true gentleman. Stayed with the same club throughout that he started his career with. With his natural athletic ability, he took to both football and cricket with equal elan.

RIP

[Sujoy76]

Three-time Olympic Gold Medal Winner and one of the greatest ever hockey player India has produced, Balbir Singh Sr. passed away after prolonged illness today morning. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest centre-forward of Indian Field Hockey. Balbir Singh Sr. has often been regarded as the modern day Dhyan Chand. He has earned his unique place in the history of the Indian Field Hockey and will always remain in the heart of hockey lovers, and his story is a legend to follow.

Awards & Achievements

Gold medal at the Summer Olympics of 1948, 1952 and 1956, held in London, Helsinki and Melbourne, respectively

Silver medal at the Asian Games of 1958, held in Tokyo

Honoured with the Indian civilian award Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1957. Balbir is the first sportsperson to be honoured with Padma Shri.

Lit the Sacred Flame at the Asian Games of 1982

Entitled as the Best Sikh Hockey Player in 2006

Adjudged as the Indian Sportsperson of the Century according to the national polling conducted by the newspaper Patriot in 1982.

Honoured by the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award of Hockey India in 2015







RIP Legend.

[V.Narayan]

Thank you Sujoy for this thread. When I was a child hockey was a game we still played as kids and at school. Sadly today the commercial tamasha of cricket and its one day shows has been at the expense of almost all other sports. Some if not a lot of the blame lies at the door step of the Hockey Federation of India , now scrapped.

I'll add one more achievement of Balbir Singh to the already impressive list you've put up. His Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten today 68 years later. Singh set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6–1 victory over the Netherlands in the gold medal game of the 1952 Olympic Games.

Alas many of the youth today might have heard of Dhyan Chand but most may not have heard of other legends such as Roop Singh, Udham Singh, Leslie Claudius and of course Sardar Balbir Singh. RIP Sir. You did the nation proud when we trained on shoe string budgets.

PS: Attractive and apt pencil sketch

[Sujoy76]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you Sujoy for this thread. When I was a child hockey was a game we still played as kids and at school. Sadly today the commercial tamasha of cricket and its one day shows has been at the expense of almost all other sports. Some if not a lot of the blame lies at the door step of the Hockey Federation of India , now scrapped.

I'll add one more achievement of Balbir Singh to the already impressive list you've put up. His Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten today 68 years later. Singh set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6–1 victory over the Netherlands in the gold medal game of the 1952 Olympic Games.

Alas many of the youth today might have heard of Dhyan Chand but most may not have heard of other legends such as Roop Singh, Udham Singh, Leslie Claudius and of course Sardar Balbir Singh. RIP Sir. You did the nation proud when we trained on shoe string budgets.

PS: Attractive and apt pencil sketch

Sir you are spot on. Many of today's youth won't have heard of the names. I doubt most of them follow Hockey seriously. Our obsession for cricket has grown manifold that the other sports have taken the backseat. I'm happy Hockey is gradually making a comeback. I feel it needs to be marketed well to generate interest amongst youngstars.

[itwasntme]

Lost an illustrious neighbour yesterday. Air Vice Marshal Ajit Lamba passed away at 84.

https://m.timesofindia.com/city/beng...w/80038590.cms

https://www.onmanorama.com/news/indi...jit-lamba.html

https://www.newindianexpress.com/cit...s-1570772.html

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/4877

Mods: didn't know where to post this. Please remove of inappropriate.

[anjan_c2007]

India's most loved and most iconic radio announcer Sh Ameen J. Sayani passed away at age 91 on 20.02.24 night. As a radio announcer that he liked to be addressed as, not DJ or RJ etc, he has been a role model for countless newbies who rule our FM airwaves now.

Ameenji's radio show hosting gave us the feeling that he was himself right there in our drawing rooms as an extended family member playing the nation's most liked songs interspersed with light moments of humour and wit, his hallmark.

Very simple communication between Ameenji and his audience created an unique and intoxicating instant mutual rapport. And this rapport is still alive with his numerous Geetmala programs uploaded on YouTube that are still getting millions of views and lakhs of likes. Ameenji also hosted "Saridon ke Saathi" and "Johar ke Jawaab" till the 1970's apart from lending his voice for numerous advertising jingles and the old 15 minute radio programmes for new films that were very common for the film's initial publicity and takeoff.

Ameen Sayani was the precious link between the fans and film personalities right from the Khemchand Prakash and Lata Mangeshkar eras till the 1990's before the proliferation of social media. His interviews with film personalities of yore were much liked by audiences.

Ameenji's very characteristic address commencing with "behno aur bhaiyo" would instantly touch the hearts of millions of listeners glued to their radio receivers, eversince he began his career with the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation that later became the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. He hosted Binaca (later Cibaca) Geetmala from December 1952 till 1996 i.e. 44 years with a gap of two years (1990-92) in between during its migration to All India Radio as the Colgate Cibaca Geetmala.

Personalities like Ameen Sayani are among the rarest of rare gems who had been sent with a mission to entertain us here on earth.

As Ameenji has reached the "Sartaaj Geet" status yesterday, after staying in the "Aakhri Paydaan" we mourn his very sad loss. Our condolences to Sh Rajeel Sayani, his son and all Ameenji's near and dear ones.







(Above:- 3rd Dec 1952 was the first broadcast of the iconic prog Binaca Geetmala. The TV series was one more Avtar. From our archives. (source Ameen Sayani FB page))

A treasurehouse of Ameen Sayani's memories:-

https://youtu.be/JWxR_5z_H38?feature=shared

[SafariMan]

End of An Era. Nostalgic Listening to Binaca Geetmala as a kid with whole family around our Murphy Maharaja Big Radio. What a man what a legend! Rip Sayani Sahab. The heavens will be well entertained.

[Vinod_nair]

The voice of Binaca geet mala, which was broadcast on the weekend, in the '60's and '70's, later became Cibaca Geet mala.

Mind you, this was broadcast by Ceylon Radio, later SLBC.

A Truely golden voice.

[ABHI_1512]

An absolute legend passes away and leaves behind his legacy for his countless admirers. A voice that entertained generations across decades and whose voice only epitomised what grace is all about. Radio once meant Ameen Sayani only, a sad day. May his soul rest in peace. The gods will be entertained now.