Hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior aged 96 passed away on Monday. Balbir was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Mohali, Punjab and was in a ‘semi-comatose condition’. He was hospitalised in the first week of May with high fever and breathing trouble.

The player who started his career in hockey as a goalkeeper during his school days also played as a defender before turning out to be India’s greatest centre forwards.

He was the most decorated sportsperson in Indian sports history with Olympic medals in 1948, 1952 and 1956 Summer Games. Apart from making a mark in the Indian team he also played a role of coaching for the team which bagged the bronze medal in the 1971 World Cup. Later, he was also appointed as the manager of the Indian team that claimed the gold medal at the 1975 World Cup. Apart from being the oldest surviving Olympic medallist from the country, he was the first sports personality to be felicitated with the Padma Shri award.

Soon after his demise, multiple luminaries and sports fraternity rushed to social media to pay their last respects to the hockey legend.