#7 Olympic games (Post-Independence era)
The hockey team from India won three consecutive gold medals in the Olympics from 1948, 1952, and 1956. They claimed the gold medal again in 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
This was the second stage of the golden era of Indian hockey. After World War II, London hosted the Olympic Games in 1948 after a gap of 12 years. Indian legend Dhyan Chand had aged by then and only played in exhibition matches.
Some jurists believe the 1948 medal in London was a bigger triumph, where Great Britain eventually fielded a team for the first time since India entered the Olympic fold. The final was played between Britain and India, and India won 4-0.
However, the Indian team did not look back as they won back to back gold medals in 1948, in 1952 at Helsinki and in 1956 Melbourne Olympics under the leadership of Kishan Lal, K. D. Singh “Babu” and Balbir Singh Sr. respectively. Leslie Claudius’ side narrowly missed out on the gold in the Rome Olympics of 1960, but Charanjit Singh and his boys romped to India’s seventh gold medal in the field hockey event in Tokyo in 1964.
