Shankar Laxman kept goal for India at three Olympic Games and played in three Olympic finals against Pakistan, letting in one goal across all three. In 1966 he became the first goalkeeper to captain an international hockey team, and he led India to its first Asian Games gold in Bangkok. He was an army man all his working life, and he died in his home town of Mhow in 2006.
Name: Shankar Laxman (also spelt Lakshman)
Born: 7 July 1933, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh
Died: 29 April 2006, Mhow
Sport: Hockey
Position: Goalkeeper
From bandsman to goalkeeper
Laxman was born in Mhow on 7 July 1933. He started out as a footballer and captained the team from Kodaria village near Mhow. In 1947 he joined the Indian Army as a bandsman in the Maratha Light Infantry, and it was in regimental hockey that he found his place in goal. He was not tall, about five feet five, but he was quick and brave, and team-mates called him the Rock of Gibraltar.
Melbourne 1956 to Tokyo 1964
He went to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics as second goalkeeper and came home with gold after India beat Pakistan 1-0 in the final. He was part of the squad at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, the first time hockey was played at the Asiad, where India finished second.
At Rome in 1960 India lost the Olympic final 1-0 to Pakistan, and two years later Pakistan beat India again in the Asian Games final in Jakarta. Laxman took plenty of criticism after Jakarta.
Tokyo 1964 turned that round. India beat Pakistan 1-0 in the Olympic final, Laxman stopped everything that came at him in the closing stages, and his team-mates carried him off on their shoulders at the final whistle.
Captain in Bangkok
For the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok the federation made him captain, which was unheard of for a goalkeeper at the time. India beat Pakistan in the final to win the Asian Games hockey gold for the first time. India would not win it again until 1998.
He was left out of the squad for the 1968 Mexico Olympics and retired from international hockey soon after. His last tour was to Europe in 1967.
Later years
Laxman stayed in the army and retired as an Honorary Captain in the Maratha Light Infantry in 1979. His later years were hard and he lost a leg to gangrene. He died in Mhow on 29 April 2006 and was cremated with full military honours. The stadium at the Infantry School in Mhow is now named after him.
Career record and honours
- Olympic gold medal: Melbourne 1956, Tokyo 1964
- Olympic silver medal: Rome 1960
- Asian Games gold medal (captain): Bangkok 1966
- Asian Games silver medal: Tokyo 1958, Jakarta 1962
- Arjuna Award (1964)
- Padma Shri (1967)
- Honorary Captain Shankar Laxman Stadium, Infantry School, Mhow
