Born on 27 October, 1945 at Madras, Charles Cornelius is considered one of the best goalkeepers of India. Smart and quick-footed, he first came into limelight in 1962 at the age of 17, when he represented DAV College, Jalandhar in a University tournament. He played for Punjab at the national Championships since 1965 before making his international debut in 1970 at the International Hockey Tournament at Bombay for the India Light Blue team. The same year, he participated in the Asian Games at Bangkok with great success and secured a permanent spot in the senior side. Again in 1971, he was selected for the SEA regional tournament and India won gold. Charles played the first of his two World Cups in 1971 at Barcelona. He also won bronze at the Munich Olympics in 1972. At the 1973 World Cup, India finished runners-up but so Charles’s performance was such that that he was included in the World XI. However, a serious knee injury he suffered in 1974, soon after being selected for the Tehran Asian Games cut his rising international career prematurely. Non-Resident Indians in London organised a screening of popular Hindi film ‘Ganga Jumna’ in his aid on 21st April, 1974. An Indo-Pak benefit match was also held for him. However, despite not being able to play, Charles continued to be associated with hockey. He obtained a coaching degree from the National Institute of Sports and trained various Indian teams. Starting from 1981, he was a regular in many national training camps. He also accompanied the Indian team for the India-Pakistan Test Series and the London Inter-Nations Tournament, both in 1985, the Asia Cup in 1990 and the Indira Gandhi Gold Cup in 1989 and 1990. He also had intermittent spells as Goalkeeper coach of Indian national teams of early 2000s. He later joined the Sports Authority of India as a coach Charles Cornelius was awarded the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports in 2003