Born on 10th October 1924, Balbir Singh Dosanjh, was an Indian hockey player, regarded as the greatest centre-forward of all time. He was referred to as Balbir Singh Senior to distinguish him from other Indian hockey players with the same name. He played a crucial role in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics, where the Indian team emerged as champions. He has the record for most number of goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final, which remains unbeaten to this day. At the age of 12, witnessing the Indian hockey team’s victory at the 1936 olympics ignited his interest in the sport. He later led the Khalsa college hockey team to 3 consecutive championships as a captain. After getting selected in the Punjab state team he played an important role in the team, which won 2 consecutive national titles (1946,1947).

International Career: Highlights

• In the 1948 Olympics, he played his first match against Argentina. After that he played in the finals where he scored the first two goals and India won the match by 4-0.
• In the 1952 Olympics, he was India’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony and the vice-captain of the men’s hockey team. After scoring a hat-trick against Britain in the semi-final he went on to score 5 goals in the final against Netherlands, setting the Olympic record of most goals scored by an individual in the men’s hockey final. He ended up scoring 9 out of the 13 goals scored by the Indian team in 1952 Olympic games.
• In 1954, he became the captain of the Indian Hockey Federation XI for the Malaya and Singapore tour, where India won all the 16 matches and Singh emerged as the top scorer for the team with a total of 44 goals.
• In the 1956 Olympics, he was the captain of the Indian team and scored 5 goals in the opening match but due to an injury he had to skip the group matches, though he did play the semi-final and final match, leading India to victory.
• In 1958, he was a member of the Indian hockey team that won a silver medal at the Asian Games.

He was the first person to receive Padma Shri in the sports category. In 1971, he coached the team for the hockey World Cup, where India won the bronze medal.

In 1975, he was the manager and Chief Coach of the hockey team that won the World Cup. He has written two books which includes his autobiography The Golden Hat Trick (1977) and The Golden Yardstick: In Quest of Hockey Excellence (2008).
In 2015, he received the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award. He died on 25th May, 2020, a year later the Mohali International Hockey Stadium was renamed as the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in his honor.