Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup: Olympian Gurbux at 83 is still passionate about autographs
Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup: Olympian Gurbux Singh is still passionate about autographs
Age is no damper for a passion. Olympian Gurbux Singh is an illustrious example. His passion for hockey is understandable. But not many know that he is one of rare autograph hunters. Besides hockey Olympians, Gurbux Singh carries with him one or more of his autograph books. In one of this autograph book, he has autographs of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand and his brother Roop Singh.
Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup: Olympian Gurbux Singh is still passionate about autographs[/caption]
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Besides, he also autographs of Nawab of Pataudi (Mansur Ali Khan) and another cricketer-turned-film star Saleem Durrani. Also in his collection are autographs of a large number of hockey Olympians and international players.
On Friday when Colonel D D Swain of 120 Infantry Battalion organized a dinner for old hockey stars, Gurbux Singh used the opportunity to update his autograph book by getting autographs of Merwyn Fernandes, Moneypanda Sommaya, Ajit Pal Singh, BP Govinda, Joe Carvalho, Dilip Tirkey, Rahul Singh, Vasudevan Bhaskaran, Ashish Ballal, AB Subbiah and Balbir Singh (Services).
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Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup: Olympian Gurbux Singh is still passionate about autographs[/caption]
“Major Dhyan Chand was a simpleton, a noble soul, “recalls Gurbux Singh saying,” He was my coach. A great player and a wonderful man, he was a competent coach.” Also Read: Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup: Canada, S. Africa play 1-1 draw
Talking about India’s performance in the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup, he says he was disheartened and not disappointed. “Boys played well but luck was not with them,” he adds.
His views were shared by other Olympians and internationals that also used the occasion to celebrate birthday of Col Balbir Singh (Services).
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Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup: Olympian Gurbux Singh is still passionate about autographs[/caption]
Col Balbir Singh, Ajit Pal Singh and Gurbux Singh were all members of the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games Indian hockey team. Gurbux Singh was Joint Captain of the team with Prithipal Singh.
Not many would know that Gurbux played for India both as a half back and a full back. In 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, he played as a half back. -PTC NEWS
