Balbir Singh Dosanj, popularly known as ‘Balbir Senior’, was a successful player, coach, administrator and then now as a senior citizen.  Balbir was born on October 10, 1924 at Haripur in Jalandhar District, had his schooling in DS High School Moga, and graduated from Khalsa College, Amritsar. He played hockey for all these institutions, and represented Punjab University in 1943, and the university went on to win the Inter-University title under his leadership two years later.

Balbir joined renowned Punjab Police in 1947 and continued to be on their pay rolls for another 15 years. He was selected for Nationals for Punjab which won the title under his leadership in 1949. Being part of two Nationals held before partition, he also got to play undivided India for the Ceylon tour (1947). His was rather a second thought choice for the 1948 London Olympics, but young Balbir proved his critics wrong by coming up with crucial goals including a brace in the finals against Great Britain in the finals, he accounted for 8 of the 13 Indian goals. He has been a regular in the national side since then.

He played two more Olympics (1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne). Under his captaincy, India won its sixth continuous title at Melbourne, his third. He struck 9 of 13 Indian goals at Helsinki including a hat-trick in the semifinal and 5 of the 6 goals that the finals produced.

He was also Indian contingent’s flag bearer in both 1952 and 1956 Olympics, another record for him and hockey. Between the Olympic feats he toured Afghanistan (1950), Singapore and Malaysia (1954), Australia and New Zealand (1955) and then led India its challenge in the third Asian Games in 1958, winning the silver.

From 1947 Ceylon tour to till Tokyo Asian Games when he hung his boots, Balbir rode like a colossus on the turfs, and helped India to uphold the glorious tradition set up by the pre-independent stalwarts.

Apart from being a selector for the 1964 Olympics, when India again won the Olympic gold, Balbir continued to be with hockey sport in many ways. He left the Police and joined Punjab Sports Department, which he ultimately headed, and helped the state to evolve as a leading sporting region.

Besides he also was coach or manager of many Indian teams (1961Ahmedabad International, 1970 Bangkok Asian Games, 1971Barcelona World Cup, 1975 Kuala Lumpur World Cup, 1982 Amsterdam Champions Trophy, 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, 1982 Melbourne Esanda Cup). India won a medal in all these events, gold at Ahmedabad and Kuala Lumpur -- only time Indian winning the World Cup -- bronze at Amsterdam and silver in others. The colourful forward was decorated with top civilian award, Padamshree in 1957 after his third Olympic gold. He penned his autobiography in 1977 (Golden Hat-trick: My Hockey Days.  He retired from service as Director and Head of Punjab Sports Department in 1982. He migrated to Canada later, visited India often.

He breathed his last on 25th May 2020 in Mohali, Chandigarh, at the age of 96

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