Culture & Entertainment · India Bureau
Harbinder Singh recalls patriotic anthem that fuelled India's 1966 Asian Games hockey triumph
Six decades after India captured its first Asian Games hockey gold in Bangkok, veteran Olympian Harbinder Singh reflects on how a patriotic song became the emotional heartbeat of that historic campaign.
LSN India ·
NEW DELHI — Harbinder Singh, now 83, still experiences a surge of emotion whenever he hears the patriotic composition that accompanied India's groundbreaking 1966 Asian Games hockey victory in Bangkok.
The legendary centre-forward recalls how goalkeeper Shankar Laxman would regularly play 'Watan ki raah mein watan ke naujawan shaheed ho' aboard the team bus, with players joining in chorus. "This would automatically motivate us," Singh told LSN News. The song proved particularly galvanising ahead of the continental tournament's final against Pakistan—a match India won to secure the gold medal.
Singh's presence in that victorious squad underscored India's dominance in the sport during that era. The centre-forward had also been part of India's triumphant Olympic hockey team just two years earlier at the 1964 Tokyo Games, making him a three-time Olympic medallist.
Six decades on, both the anthem and the final remain vivid in Singh's memory, symbolising a transformative period for Indian hockey when the nation consistently challenged the sport's traditional powerhouses and claimed continental supremacy for the first time.