Five Indian Sportsmen who enjoy quite interesting and unique records to their name

1936 Indian Olympics Hockey team
The victorious Indian hockey team of the 1936 Olympic Games

#1 Richard Allen

The Indian Hockey team set records of many sorts during their golden era at the Olympics. The 1928 Olympics saw them conceding no goals and winning gold in the 1928, 1932, 1936 editions and only conceding 3 goals - Richard James Allen was the goalkeeper of these 3 Olympics. In the 1928 Summer Olympics, Richard Allen played five matches as goalkeeper, and no goals were scored against him.

The 1928 Olympics saw them conceding no goals and winning gold in the 1928, 1932, 1936 editions and only conceding 3 goals - Richard James Allen was the goalkeeper of these 3 Olympics. In the 1928 Summer Olympics, Richard Allen played five matches as goalkeeper, and no goals were scored against him. In the 1932 LA Olympics, India beat USA 24-1, as the only goal scored against Richard was because he was off the field signing autographs. In the 1936 Summer Olympics he played four matches as goalkeeper and he let only one goal get past him. This tally of conceding only two goals over three Olympic games remains an Olympic record to this day.

#2 Bal Krishan Singh

Bal Krishan Singh won gold as a coach and a player

Balkrishan Singh holds the unique record and honour of winning the Olympic gold medal both as a player and as a coach. He was a member of the gold medal-winning team in the 1956 Olympics. After his career as a player ended, he became a top hockey coach.

He coached the Indian team that won the 1980 Olympic gold medal at Moscow, and also coached the Indian men at the 1992 Olympics. In 1982, he coached the Indian women’s team that won the gold at the Asian Games.

#3 Neville Stephen J. D'Souza

Neville D'Souza
Neville D’Souza scored a hat-trick in the 1956 Olympics

Neville D’Souza was the member of Indian football team for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where he became the first Asian player to score a hat-trick in an Olympic Games. He jointly topped the goal-scoring tally by scoring 4 goals, where he also scored a hat-trick against the hosts in the quarter-final match.

Prior to the Olympics, he earned a good reputation for himself in the domestic circuit when he lifted the prestigious Beighton Cup from Kolkata. He played in East Africa in 1952 with Tata’s, and scored 34 goals in only 17 matches and then went on representing Bombay in the national Hockey team till 1955. India last participated in Football in Olympics in 1960.

#4 and #5 Leslie Claudius and Uddham Singh

Leslie Claudius
Leslie Claudius was part of an incredibly successful Indian hockey team

Both Leslie Claudius and Udham Singh represented India in hockey during the ‘Golden age of Indian hockey.’ Both of them have won the Olympic Gold medal thrice. Leslie Claudius was part of the winning team in 1948 London Olympics, 1952 Helsinki Olympics and 1956 Melbourne. Udham Singh was a member of the gold medal team at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, 1956 Melbourne Olympics and 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Udham Singh
Udham Singh won the gold thrice with the Indian hockey team

They were both part of silver-winning Olympics team in Rome too. They were both legends in their own rights. Thier names are etched in the Guinness World Record for being part of the team that won the maximum number of medals at the Olympic Games. Udham Singh was conferred with Arjuna Award in 1965 while Leslie Claudius was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971. Sadly, Udham Singh passed away in 2000 and Leslie Claudius passed away in 2012.

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Edited by Staff Editor