Govind Perumal was born on 25th September in 1925. Govind Perumal was an Indian field hockey player, who had participated at the Olympics in the year 1952 held at Helsinki and at the Olympics of 1956, held at Melbourne. India has won the gold medal in both the Olympics.
Career of Govind Perumal
In the 1952 Olympic Games at Helsinki, the Indian national hockey team played 3 games in total, and won all the 3 games. The Indian team scored 13 goals through out the tournament. The Indian national hockey team beat Great Britain (3-1) and Austria (4-0) and finally won against Holland (6-1), achieving their 5th subsequent Olympic gold. Other highly skilled team members of Hockey in India team are included- Digvijay Singh (Captain), Ranganathan Francis, Jaswant Singh Rajput, Dharam Singh, Randhir Singh Gentle, Muniswamy Rajagopal, Udham Singh, Chinnadorai Deshmuthu, Balbir Singh, C. S. Gurung, Grahanandan Singh, Swarup Singh and others.
Govind Perumal also participated in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where the Indian national hockey team won all the 5 matches they played. The national team managed to score 38 goals with their experienced game play. India won against Singapore (6-0), USA (16-0) and Afghanistan (14-0). In the final match, India faced off against Pakistan, first time after independence. India won the match, securing its sixth Olympic gold in a row. Amongst the team members, Balbir Singh Sr, Ranganathan Francis, Balkrishan Singh, Randhir Singh Gentle, Raghbir Singh, Udham Singh and Govind Perumal played exceptionally well along with others.
At the petition of the army authorities, after the 1949 Beighton Cup Final, in aid of the Troops Welfare Fund the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) held an accumulation match between Bengal and the Rest of India. Govind Perumal was included in the team namely `Rest of India` and played against Bengal. After his retirement from the professional hockey Perumal had trained many bank teams and amateur clubs.
Govind Perumal, hockey Olympian, died of a heart attack at his residence at Nalla Sopara in Thane district on 17th September 2002. He was 78 at the time of death.
