1956 Olympics Indian football team facilitated
Submitted by admin on 23 February 2009 - 10:52pm
By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi: 1950s were the golden era of Indian football- India won 1951 Asian Games Gold Medal and came fourth in 1956 Olympic Games. Today Sports Minister of India Dr. M. S. Gill facilitated the surviving member of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics team to honour them for their achievement.
Dr. M.S. Gill with Mohammed Zulfiqaruddin
At a function held here, Dr. Gill presented to each surviving members a silver plaque in memory of their unforgettable performance, a shawl and a token Cash Award of Rs. 1.5 lakh each. Out of the nine surviving members of the 1956 team, seven members could attend the function and receive the award personally from the Minister. They are: Samar Banerjee, S.S. Narayan, A.S. Salam, A. Hussain, N.K. Nandi, P.K. Banerjee & MZ. Zulfaikar. Tulsidas and K.C. Pal could not attend the function because of their ill health.
Speaking briefly about the journey of Indian Football Team during 1956 Olympics, Samar Banerjee, Captain of the team narrated the story about how Indian team reached the semi-finals by defeating Australia 4-2 in the quarter-final at the Melbourne Olympics.
In the road to semi-finals, Neville Stephen D'Souza scored a hat-trick against Australia becoming the first Asian to do so in the Olympics. India lost to Yugoslavia in semi-finals 4-1 and to Bulgaria 3-0 for the Bronze Medal.
The Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports, Dr. M.S. Gill felicitated Ahmed Hussain.
In his welcome address, Dr. Gill stated that the Government is delighted to felicitate the surviving members of legendary Indian Football Team, who made the country proud more than 50 years ago. With this, young generation will drive inspiration to excel like them. He said the Ministry has upgraded the football game from “Others” category to “Priority” category. This will enable the All India Football Federation to receive the enhanced Government support for the development of the game. He said that in his views the Government should promote only those games which are inexpensive and playable in any terrain and these games could be Football, Athletics, Hockey, Volleyball and Basketball.
The Indian soccer team for 1956 Melbourne Olympics:
Goalkeepers: Peter Thangaraj (Madras Regimental Centre, Services), Shankar Subramaniam Narayan (Caltex, Bombay).
Defenders: Abdul T. Rehman (Rajasthan Club, Calcutta), Syed Khwaja Azizuddin (Hyderabad City Police), S.A. Latif (Bombay).
Midfielders: Marianna Kempiah (East Bengal Club), Mohammed Abdul Salaam (Bengal), Nikhil Kumar Nandy (Eastern Railway SC, Bengal), Ahmed Hussain (Hyderabad), Noor Mohammed (Hyderabad City Police).
Forwards: Samar Banerjee (Mohun Bagan AC - CAPTAIN), J. Krishnaswamy "Kittu" (East Bengal Club), P.K. Banerjee (Bengal), Krishna Chandra "Kesto" Pal (Bengal), Muhamed Kannayan (Bengal-Nagpur Railway, Calcutta), Neville Stephen D'Souza (Bombay - Vice-CAPTAIN), Tulsidas Balaram (Hyderabad), Mohammed Zulfiqaruddin (Hyderabad City Police).
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good job Gills
That is amazing it was great to honor the members of the football team of 1956. Thats the way to go Gill
CONGRATULATIONS
We must congratulate Gill for this action...those players were great and Gill honored entire country by honoring those great players of 50's
Back then the games were
Back then the games were clean it's great he awarded them for what they did today it's all anabolic steroids in the games and almost no competition is safe from someone cheating.
Thanks a Million Mr. Gill
It was really heart warming to see Sports Minister Gill facilitate the Class of 1956.I would like to thank Mr Gill for taking the initiative and felicitating the long forgotten heroes.These men brought glory to the nation but have now been left to lead obscure lives.
Idian Football,in all probability,may never again experience the golden era that it saw in the 50s and 60s.
Seeing these old heroes reminds me of the immortal words by an immortal band:
"Those guys are too old and you can't put your arm around a memory"
- Guns N'Roses
Well done Mr Gill! Well done
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