One bright, shining moment
Twenty-four years ago after the Tokyo triumph, Shankar Laxman reflects on his life and the state of hockey in India today.
‘We had practiced very hard and the co-ordination in our team was something to behold. Before the tournament, I had made a firm resolve that I would not let the ball past me at any cost.’ Shankar Laxman was as good as his word. Effortlessly mowing down the opposition, India powered its way to its sixth successive Olympic hockey gold medal in Melbourne, in 1956. Beating Afghanistan 14-0, the US 16-0, Singapore 6-0, Pakistan 1-0. Not a single ball had got past its redoubtable goalkeeper.
Now, 55 years old and long since retired from active competition, Shankar Laxman recalls those heady days with justifiable pride. With the Olympics making the headlines again and India’s hopes of making a dent on the sporting scene looking grimmer than ever, it is with wonder that one looks back on a time when bagging at least one gold was virtual certainty.
One of the finest hockey goalkeepers the country has produced, Shankar Laxman ironically landed his first job due to his expertise in football. ”I was a reasonably good player,” he recalls, ”good enough to have been selected as a sepoy in the army on the basis of my game.” He gave up studying beyond the Higher Secondary in order to join the army.
It was the strict army habit of obeying orders unquestioningly that was responsible for getting him to change his game. ”In our team there was a Major Sanwal Singh, a keen sportsman. Some time in 1951-52, he began observing my game closely. He noted that I was equally at ease playing with both my feet. He told me that I would make a good hockey goalkeeper. I was scared to play hockey- especially as a goalkeeper! But in the army, orders are orders and they have to be obeyed.”
What helped to reconcile him to the switch was the enormous popularity that hockey enjoyed in the country at the time.
He almost made it into the inter-command hockey tournament in 1954. To get this far meant going through a lengthy selection process through all the various levels of qualification. But at the final stage the selectors felt that Laxman was too young and inexperienced to qualify.
Not a bit put off, the young goalie redoubled his efforts and in 1955 was selected as the goalkeeper of the formidable Services team for the Nationals at Madras. It was here that he met the man he calls his guru. ”Francis had represented India in the two previous Olympics as goalkeeper. He was quite impressed by my game and was certain that I would make it big one day. He was always a great inspiration to me, ” says Laxman gratefully.