India at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Sporting event delegation

India at the
1956 Summer Olympics

IOC code| IND
NOC| Indian Olympic Association
Website| olympic.ind.in
in Melbourne/Stockholm
Competitors| 59 (58 men, 1 woman) in 8 sports
Flag bearer| Balbir Singh Sr.
Medals
Ranked 24th|

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

* 1900
* 1904–1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

India competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. 59 competitors, 58 men and 1 woman, took part in 32 events in 8 sports. Their solitary medal, a gold, came in men's field hockey.[1][2][3]

## Medalists

[edit]

Medals by sport

Sport |  |  |  | Total
Field hockey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
Medal  | Name  | Sport  | Event

|
|
|

Gold | Leslie Claudius
Ranganathan Francis
Haripal Kaushik
Amir Kumar
Raghbir Lal
Shankar Lakshman
Govind Perumal
Amit Singh Bakshi
Raghbir Singh Bhola
Balbir Singh Dosanjh
Hardyal Singh Garchey
Randhir Singh Gentle
Balkishan Singh Grewal
Gurdev Singh Kullar
Udham Singh Kullar
Bakshish Singh
Charles Stephen | Field hockey | Men's Field hockey

## Athletics

[edit]

Main article: Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Men's High Jump

* Ajit Singh

* Qualification Round -- 1.96m (14)

Men's 200 metres

* Milkha Singh

* Heat -- 22.47 (→ did not advance)

Men's 800 metres

* Sohan Singh

* Heat -- 1.52.4(→ did not advance)

Women's 100 metres

* Mary Rao

* Heat -- DNF(→ did not advance)

## Field hockey

[edit]

Main article: Field hockey at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Squad

Leslie Claudius
Ranganathan Francis
Haripal Kaushik
Amir Kumar
Raghbir Lal
Shankar Lakshman
O. P. Malhotra
Govind Perumal
Amit Singh Bakshi
Raghbir Singh Bhola
Balbir Singh Dosanjh
Hardyal Singh Garchey
Randhir Singh Gentle
Balkishan Singh Grewal
Gurdev Singh Kullar
Udham Singh Kullar
Bakshish Singh
Charles Stephen

Group standings
Rank  | Team  | Pld  | W  | D  | L  | GF  | GA  | Pts  |  |  |  |  |

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1\.  |  India | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 6 |  | X | 6:0 | 14:0 | 16:0
2\.  |  Singapore | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 |  | 0:6 | X | 5:0 | 6:1
3\.  |  Afghanistan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 2 |  | 0:14 | 0:5 | X | 5:1
4\.  |  United States | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 0 |  | 0:16 | 1:6 | 1:5 | X

Semi-finals
| 3 December 1956

India | 1–0  |  United Team of Germany

|
|

|  |
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

Gold medal match
| 6 December 1956

India | 1–0  |  Pakistan

|
|

Gentle 38' | Report |
Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

## Football

[edit]

Main article: Association football at the 1956 Summer Olympics

First round

India | w/o 1|  Hungary

|
|

|  |

Melbourne

* * *

Quarterfinals

1 December 1956
12:00

Australia | 2-4|  India

|
|

Morrow 17' 41' | Report | D'Souza 9' 33' 50'
Kittu 80'

Melbourne

Referee: C.H. Wensveen (IDN)

* * *

Semifinals

4 December 1956
12:00

Yugoslavia | 4-1|  India

|
|

Papec 54' 65'
Veselinović 57'
Salam 78' (o.g.) | Report | D'Souza 52'

Melbourne

Attendance: 16.626

Referee: Latyshev (USSR)

* * *

Bronze Medal match

7 December 1956
14:15

Bulgaria | 3-0|  India

|
|

Diev 37' 60'
Milanov 42' | Report |

Melbourne

Attendance: 21.236

Referee: Latyshev (USSR)

## Gymnastics

[edit]

Main article: Gymnastics at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Three athletes represented India in Gymnastics at the 1956 Olympics: Pritam Singh, Sham Lal, and Anant Ram.

## Shooting

[edit]

Main article: Shooting at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Two shooters represented India in 1956.

50 m rifle, three positions

* Harihar Banerjee
* Haricharan Shaw

## Swimming

[edit]

Main article: Swimming at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Men's 100 m Freestyle

* Sri Chand Bajaj

* Heat -- 1:01.6

Men's 200 metre butterfly

* Shamsher Khan

* Heat -- 3:06.3

## Weightlifting

[edit]

Main article: Weightlifting at the 1956 Summer Olympics

## Wrestling

[edit]

Main article: Wrestling at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Key:

* VT \- Victory by Fall.
* Pt \- Decision by Points.
* Pd \- Decision by Points but Judges disagree.

Men's freestyle
Athlete  | Event  | Round 1
Result  | Round 2
Result  | Round 3
Result  | Round 4
Result  | Round 5
Result  | Round 6
Result  | Rank

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Baban Daware | −52 kg |  Asai (JPN)
L VT |  Lee J-g (KOR)
W Pt |  Tsalkalamanidze (URS)
L VT | did not advance  | −
Tarashkeswar Pandey | −57 kg |  Kämmerer (EUA)
L Pt |  Vercouteren (BEL)
W Pt |  Yaghoubi (IRN)
L VT | did not advance  | −
Ram Sarup | −62 kg |  Mewis (BEL)
L Pt | Bye  |  Salimullin (URS)
L Pt | did not advance  | −
Lakhshmi Kant Pandey | −67 kg |  Nizzola (ITA)
L VT |  Güngör (TUR)
L Pt | did not advance  | −
Devi Singh | −73 kg |  Sorouri (IRN)
L VT |  Ikeda (JPN)
L VT | did not advance  | —  | −
B. Singh | −79 kg |  Davies (AUS)
W Pt |  van Zyl (RSA)
L Pt |  Lindblad (SWE)
L VT | did not advance  | −
Lila Ram | +87 kg |  Richmond (GBR)
L Pt |  Kaplan (TUR)
L VT | did not advance  | −

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "India at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
2. ^ "India vs Pakistan for Olympics gold medal final". Retrieved 1 May 2022.
3. ^ "India pips Pakistan to win Olympic gold". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 May 2022.

* v
* t
* e

Nations at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden

Africa|

* (Egypt)*
* Ethiopia
* Kenya
* Liberia
* Nigeria
* South Africa
* Uganda

America|

* Argentina
* Bahamas
* Bermuda
* Brazil
* British Guiana
* Canada
* Chile
* Colombia
* Cuba
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Peru
* Puerto Rico
* Trinidad
* United States
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

Asia|

* Afghanistan
* Burma
* (Cambodia)*
* Ceylon
* Republic of China
* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Israel
* Japan
* South Korea
* Malaya
* North Borneo
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Singapore
* Thailand
* Vietnam

Europe|

* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Czechoslovakia
* Denmark
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Great Britain
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Italy
* Luxembourg
* (Netherlands)*
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Soviet Union
* (Spain)*
* Sweden
* (Switzerland)*
* Turkey
* Yugoslavia

Oceania|

* Australia
* Fiji
* New Zealand

Nations in bullet brackets indicating competed at the Equestrian events (Stockholm only)
*[38']: Scored from penalty corner
*[VT]: Victory by Fall - 14m 45s
*[Pt]: Decision by Points : 3-0
*[Pd]: Decision by Points (Judges Disagree)
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template