Before independence and
subsequent partition of India, the national hockey championship was called the
inter-provincials championship.
The undivided Punjab team of 1946 beat Delhi in the final to win the Calcutta
Nationals - thus bringing the title back to Punjab after 14 years.
Balbir Singh Sr. is at extreme right and captain Gurcharan Singh Randhawa is
4th from right (standing). Other players in the team are Amir Kumar, Dharam
Singh, G. S. Bodhi, Masood, Mahmood, Aziz and Anwar.
The manager of the team (in coat) is M. L. Kapur (sports editor, Tribune). To his
left is Swami Jagannath, manager of the 1936 Indian Olympic team.
Punjab Hockey Association president, Sir John Benett, received the team at Lahore
Railway Station, and later hosted a public reception at Lahore. |