Guj’s only Oly medal winner fades out of memory

Vadodara: It was a ‘Chak de’ moment for the entire country when the Indian men’s hockey team stormed into the semifinals in the Olympics after 41 years. While sports-lovers from Gujarat celebrated the occasion, very few know that the state has only one Olympic medal to its name. And that is in hockey.
In the last seven decades, Gujarat has got only one Olympic medal that was won by Govindrao Sawant, a Barodian. Sawant was a part of the Indian hockey team that participated in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
“The team had played in the Olympics at Rome and we had reached the finals against Pakistan. We lost the match and ended as runners-up. As a member of the team, Sawant earned a silver medal,” said Laxman Karanjgaonkar, secretary of Gujarat State Athletics Association.
“After that, Gujarat has not won any Olympic medal in team or individual games. Though, this year three girls from Gujarat did participate in the Olympics,” Karanjgaonkar, who is executive member of Athletic Federation of India, added.
Sawant, who was born in a humble middle-class family in erstwhile Baroda state on November 25, 1935, took to hockey at a very young age. He used to play for the Bombay province before Gujarat and Maharashtra were carved out as different states in 1960.
“He played in the Rangaswamy Cup, a senior national hockey tournament, for the first time in 1951 where he represented Bombay province. Sawant used to play in the left-half position and his game was so good that he got selected for the Rome Olympics,” said Vikas Prajapati, assistant director, physical education department, MS University. Sawant was also offered a job by the state reserve police (SRP) and he retired as a deputy superintendent of police (DySP).
After retiring from hockey in early 1970s, Sawant played a key role in the Baroda District Hockey Association and began coaching aspiring players. During his playing days, he used to run between Vadodara city and Padra taluka and cover a distance of nearly 50 kms to increase his stamina. Despite being an Olympian medal winner, Sawant was meted out a shabby treatment by the state government that didn’t recognize his achievement.
In 2001, he underwent a knee replacement surgery at SSG Hospital as he didn’t have enough money. Sawant died in the same year within months of the surgery. The Baroda District Hockey Association had started a tournament in his name later.