Milkha, the trail blazer

Fourth best

Tokyo, Sept 1960

Born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), Milkha Singh was orphaned and rendered a refugee by the riots at Partition. He got into the Indian Army in 1952 and ran his first race a fortnight later — it was not a great beginning, for Milkha had to stop to rest after half-a-mile before continuing. But his love for running shaped his extraordinary training regimen, which included running in all kinds of terrain, and sprinting next to speeding trains. In 1958, he won gold medals in the 200m and 400m events at the Asian Games, and the 400m gold at the Commonwealth Games the same year. 

But the legend of Milkha was created in the 1960 Rome Olympics, when he missed the bronze by a whisker. In the run-up to the Olympics, he had beaten all the world’s best quarter-milers, except Otis Davis of the US, and was a favourite to win a medal. In the final, he burst off the blocks with tremendous power and took the early lead but, at the 200m, slowed down a bit and even turned to look at the competitors. This was a fatal mistake: He was quickly overtaken and could finish only fourth.

First World Champion

Calcutta, Dec 1958

Eleven years after Independence, India had its first world champion. Wilson Jones, son of a Welshman, was good at hockey and cricket too, but found fame at the billiards table. After early years of struggle in the World Amateur Billiards Championship, he finally triumphed in 1958 in Kolkata. He was immediately hailed as a national hero, and he paid back his admirers by winning his second world title.

Woman power

Sandgate, Sept 1959

Arati Saha became the first woman from Asia to swim across the English Channel, from Cape Gris Nez in France to Sandgate in England. Saha, a precocious talent who had participated in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, presented the face of the new Indian woman to the West, and provided a role model to women in India when she raised the Indian flag at Sandgate on September 29, 1959.

Tennis great

London, June 1960

Ramanathan Krishnan, who is still the greatest tennis player from India, reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships in 1960, and repeated the feat the next year. Krishnan had announced his arrival seven years earlier when, as a 16-year-old, he was India’s hero in a lost cause against Belgium in their Davis Cup tie in 1953. He won the junior title at Wimbledon next year, and the London Lawn Tennis Championship in 1959. In both his Wimbledon semifinals, Krishnan had the tough luck of running into the eventual winner, Neale Fraser and Rod Laver. No other Indian player has reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam in singles. 

Yawn series

India, 1960-61

The second visit by a Pakistan team for a Test series raised excitement, but the cricket was dull and uninspiring. All the five Tests were drawn, and each of the 15 first class matches played by the visitors, too, ended in a draw. After this series, India and Pakistan played 12 drawn Tests in a row. It was clear the teams were very defensive in the mindset, unwilling to take a chance — Pakistan’s batsmen scored at 35 runs per 100 balls, India’s at 39 runs per 100 balls. Pakistan notched up five 100s, and India answered with four, three of them by Polly Umrigar. There was no Test cricket between the two sides for over 17 years after this series.

Football gold standard

Jakarta, Sept 1962

A day after India lost the Asian Games gold medal match in hockey to Pakistan, the football team rose up and won gold for the country. The Indian team comprised legends of the sport — Chuni Goswami was the captain, Jarnail Singh the scorer of goals in the semifinal and final, while PK Banerjee scored goals throughout the tournament, and Peter Thangaraj was the rock-solid goalkeeper of the team. In the final, won 2-1 by India against South Korea, Thangaraj was the star with some spectacular saves.

Lost and found

Tokyo, Oct 1964

Four years after the heartbreaking loss to Pakistan in the gold medal match, India regained the hockey title in the 1964 Olympic Games. At Tokyo, the first Olympics to be held in Asia, India remained unbeaten in the group stage and defeated Australia 3-1 in the semifinal. For the third time in a row, India and Pakistan fought a bitter battle for gold, and India prevailed 1-0. It was a triumph also for goalkeeper Shankar Lakshman, who made several excellent saves. India had lost their hold on the gold medal in 1960, when Pakistan won the final 1-0.

Davis final

Melbourne, Dec 1966

India made the Davis Cup final in 1966, where they lost to Australia. Ramanathan Krishnan and Jaidip Mukherjea figured in all the five matches but could win only two sets in all in the singles. However, the duo won the doubles rubber, shocking the 1965 Wimbledon champions Newcombe and Roche.

Great Randhawa

Tokyo, Oct 1964

An outstanding allround athlete, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa focussed on decathlon in the early part of his career. He touched the 6,000-point mark at age 18 and won the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games, where he was named the best athlete of the event. Then, out of the blue, he quit decathlon and began to focus only on the 110m hurdles, where his timing was consistently in the world’s top-10. After winning his heat, he timed 14 seconds in the semifinals to make the final; in the final, Randhawa ran his heart out and again timed 14 seconds, good enough for the fifth place. This was the best result by an Asian athlete in the 1964 Olympics. 

Other achievements

• 1960: The Olympics career of the great Leslie Claudius came to an end with his fourth hockey medal, this time a silver after India’s loss to Pakistan in the final in Rome
• 1961: The Indian government instituted the Arjuna Awards, and the first five winners were legends of their sports: Karni Singh, Ramanathan Krishnan, Salim Durrani, and Nandu Natekar and PK Banerjee
• 1961: India has become a big chess power over the last 30 years, but the beginnings were humble: In 1961, the country’s first International Master emerged — Manuel Aaron
• 1962: At age 21, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was named the captain of the Indian cricket team during the tour of West Indies after Nari Contractor, the regular captain, was hit on the head by a ball and was forced to take a break from the sport.  
• 1962: Karni Singh won a silver medal at the trap event in the World Shooting Championships at Cairo. 
• 1966: Two years after winning gold at the Olympics, India beat Pakistan 1-0 to win hockey gold at the 1966 Asiads.