New Delhi: Hockey India (HI) will be honouring 34 Olympic gold medallists with Rs.two lakh each at a grand felicitation ceremony June 24, coinciding with the departure of the Indian team for the upcoming London Olympics.

Balbir Singh Sr. and Leslie Claudius, both part of Indian teams that won gold medals at three successive Olympic Games from 1948, will be among others who will be honoured at the function.

"It is our way of recalling the contribution of these legends to our sport and to the country," Hockey India secretary-general Narinder Batra said.

"The London Games hockey competition will be the first Olympics after the formation of Hockey India and we want to avail the opportunity to celebrate their gold medal winning feats.

"I am sure the presence of the hockey legends will boost the Indian team that will leave for France and Spain to prepare for the London Games. The sight of the gold medals can be most inspirational," Batra said, indicating that invitations have been sent out to the former players.

At 87 years of age, Balbir Singh is the oldest of the Indian Olympic gold medallists. Keshav Dutt, G. Nandy Singh, Jaswant Singh, Raghbir Lal and Haripal Kaushik have been part of two gold medal-winning teams.

The list of 34 invitees is as follows: Balbir Singh Sr., Keshav Dutt, Leslie Claudius, G. Nandy Singh, Jaswant Singh, Raghbir Lal, R.S. Bhola, Hardayal Singh, Haripal Kaushik, A.S. Bakshi, Gurdev Singh, Charanjit Singh, Gurbux Singh, Harbinder Singh, Dharam Singh, Balbir Singh, Ali Sayeed, Darshan Singh, V. Bhaskaran, Bir Bahadur Chettri, Allan Schofield, Sylvanus Dung Dung, Rajinder Singh, Davinder Singh, Gurmail Singh, Ravinder Pal Singh, M.M. Sommaiya, Maharaj Krishan Kaushik, Charanjit Kumar, Mervyn Fernandis, Amarjit Singh Rana, Mohammed Shahid, Zafar Iqbal and Surinder Singh Sodhi.