Ajit Pal Singh Biography 
Ajit Pal Singh is a former professional field hockey player who played for the national team during the glorious era of hockey. He also served as the captain of the Indian hockey team, and represented India in three Olympics from 1968 through 1976. He was a team member of Indian national team which earned bronze medal at 1968 and 1972 Olympics. He also witnessed the first ever Olympics of team India which returned without any medal, in year 1976. For his contributions towards sports, especially hockey, Government of India honoured him with the fourth highest civilian honour - Padma Shri in 1992. He also served as India's chef de mission for 2012 Summer Olympics.
His name is also spelled as Ajitpal Singh. He was born on 1 April 1947 in Sansarpur, Punjab. His village is near Jalandhar Cantonment of Punjab, which was quite famous for grooming excellenet hockey players. He started playing hockey at the age of 7 or 8, and he was first introduced to the game by his uncle. He played hockey during school days at the Full Back position and also represented the Punjab State Schools Hockey team in 1963 at the age of 16. While studying at Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, he appeared in many tournaments representing his college. He became the Captain of Punjab University Hockey team in 1966, and served in that position for next two years.
He marked his international debut with national team in 1960. He also toured Japan in 1966 and participated in the Pre-Olympic tournament held in London in 1967. He played Olympics for the first time in 1968 and represented his team for next two seasons too. He also served as the captain of the Indian team at the Hockey World Cup 1975 held in Kuala Lumpur and India won the tournament. Following the bad performance at Montreal Olympic Games 1976, he took a break from his active career.
Published: February 04, 2019
Updated: February 04, 2019
