"Gunned Down: The Rise & Fall of Prithipal Singh – Indian Hockey’s Penalty King"

by Baljit Balli, Babushahi Network

Chandigarh, August 12, 2025: "Gunned Down: The Rise & Fall of Prithipal Singh – Indian Hockey’s Penalty King"—a book chronicling the life and tragic end of legendary hockey star Prithipal Singh—was released here today, followed by an expert panel discussion on his remarkable yet controversial journey. The author of the book is Sundeep Misra, renowned sports journalist of India.

Speakers unanimously hailed Prithipal Singh as one of India’s greatest hockey heroes and an enduring inspiration for future generations. However, they also acknowledged the more contentious aspects of his personality, particularly during his tenure as Director Students’ Welfare at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). His strong ego, uncompromising nature, and alignment with rival student factions were cited as factors that clouded his stellar achievements. The tensions culminated in his assassination on the PAU campus in 1983. This killing was directly or indirectly related to the tense situaiton created by the  killings of student leader of PSU Pirthipal Singh Randhawa ( in1979) and sportsman Piara Singh ( in April 1983 ), both PAU students.

Three Olympic medals - a silver (1960), gold (1964), and a bronze (1968). The first hockey player to be honoured with the coveted Arjuna Award. The Chairman of Selectors that brought home the 1975 Hockey World Cup. One of ‘world’s most feared penalty corner specialists’ and Indian hockey’s fiercest defenders, the man who was a terror on the field, who led his battalion like a towering Generalissimo, Prithipal was a key figure of the 64’ Olympic team that won gold. A shining star of Indian Hockey’s gilded age, Prithipal aka the Penalty King was feared by rivals, revered by fans and a name that instilled respect for the game. “It was my father, Durga Prassana Misra, who piqued my interest in this legend. Prithipal was India’s go-to-man when matches seemed to be heading for a draw or a narrow defeat - he made it to the top five hockey sporting stars in my father’s greatest list - and that was my baptism, an introduction to the name: Prithipal Singh,” says celebrated sports journalist and author, Sundeep Misra, whose latest book Gunned Down - Murder of An Olympic Champion traces the extraordinary life and death of one of Indian hockey’s most formidable figures - Prithipal Singh. 

Considered one of the most treasured hockey players of his generation, Prithipal was shot dead by his own students in broad daylight at the campus of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana. This event rocked the entire Punjab and international hockey community in 1983 for it is the only murder in Indian sports history of an Olympic Champion, a three-time Olympic medalist.
To write about him, bring him back to life is also to try and understand not only a player but a passage of Indian hockey history that is getting wiped out as generations look for stories that last ten seconds.

“It didn’t happen overnight,” says author Sundeep Misra. “It took me nearly two years of circling around the idea, reading scattered references to Prithipal Singh, and wondering whether it was worth digging deeper. But every time I looked away, the story pulled me back. This was a man who won Olympic gold, captained India, and died in the most tragic, unsolved fashion—on a university campus, no less. That contradiction—of glory and erasure—was too powerful to ignore. This wasn’t just a hockey story. It was a story of ambition, pride, politics, and what happens when institutions fail their heroes. Once I crossed that threshold, I couldn’t not write it.”
A compelling investigative narrative, Misra spent six years tracing Prithipal Singh’s journey through personal interviews, university records, forgotten newspaper clippings, and court documents, traveling from Ludhiana to Canada, chasing the truth.

“Singh was outspoken, uncompromising, and unwilling to play politics — traits that would eventually cost him dearly. Fame does not guarantee fairness, and legacy doesn’t always protect you from being forgotten or erased. His life straddled excellence and controversy, loyalty and betrayal, glory, and injustice. These are themes that still echo through Indian sport today, how we handle dissent, politics in federations, or how institutions respond to athletes who don't fit the mould. Prithipal’s story is relevant for anyone trying to understand the deeper truths of power, pride, and sport in India,” pens Sundeep Misra.

‘Prithipal Singh was a legend and a life cut short too soon,’ says Sundeep Misra, author of the much awaited book Gunned Down- The Murder of an Olympian Champion. The book launch saw an insightful perspectives on the life of this hockey legend from eminent speakers including former Olympic gold medalist Harbinder Singh, principal advisor to Shiromani Akali Dal and former assistant professor English, PAU Harcharan Singh Bains, former India hockey captain, MLA and Padma Shri Pargat Singh, and retired English Professor PAU, former general secretary Punjab Students Union Ajaib Singh Tiwana. The discussion was moderated by media entrepreneur and senior journalist Arup Ghosh. Present in the audience were hockey legends Sardara Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh and Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey, who also launched the book.
‘The first emotion is of sadness, it was a misfortune of our times. Prithipal did have a streak of violence but it was never destructive. He was self righteous and always believed he was doing the right thing,’ Bains tries to get into Prithipal’s nature, that of an ‘iconic elder brother for girls on campus’ and feared amongst students and players. Sundeep feels had he won the 1960 Olympics against Pakistan, he would’ve been a different Prithipal, he would’ve made his peace with the loss of home in Nankana. ‘We lost a man that would’ve changed the way we view sports, a man who would’ve shaped and groomed the players of today in an impactful manner,’ he adds.
Pargat Singh, who joined Indian hockey team in 1983, saw him as a legend. ‘His commitment was phenomenal and his mental make up was unparalleled - that of a winner,’ says Pargat, adding how the system and a compromised investigation into the murder made matters worse and hit a dead end. He said Prithipal might not have changed himself to adjust in the atmosphere of PAU. The panel was joined by Ajaib Singh Tiwana, who was allegedly involved in the murder of Prithipal Singh, to which Ajaib objected and explained how he was falsly implicated in this case by police and how he got a clean chit later. ‘I feel as Director Student welfare, he was supposed to work for the students, not discipline or reprimand them… he slowly became a hurdle in way of students,’ feels Ajaib. He said Prithipal used to patronize one group of violent students to oppose the PSU led by P S Randhawa.
‘We as a nation know how to make heroes, but unfortunately don’t know how to keep them, sustain them, maintain that heroism,’ Pargat says.

‘Gunned Down – Murder of An Olympic Champion’ is not just a biography. It is a resurrection. A fearless, forensic excavation of Singh’s legacy, and the dangerous politics that led to his tragic end. Copies now available on Amazon and leading independent bookstores.
About the Book
‘Gunned Down - Murder of An Olympic Champion’traces the extraordinary life of one of Indian hockey’s most formidable figures - Prithipal Singh. He was called "The King of Short Corner" — a fearsome drag-flicker, a national hero, and a man both revered and feared on the hockey field. But behind the medals and headlines lay a story of power, politics, and betrayal.
From Olympic glory to bitter factionalism, from campus corridors to a tragic end shrouded in silence, this is the untold journey of a player who gave everything to the game — and paid the ultimate price. Unflinching, deeply researched, and emotionally resonant, this book unearths the legacy of a sportsman who refused to be silenced, even when the system turned against him.
About the Author
Sundeep Misra has spent over thirty years chasing Indian sport — sometimes its highs, mostly its heartbreaks, and always its contradictions. A sports journalist by trade and a storyteller by compulsion, he has watched athletes rise, fall, and occasionally disappear into bureaucratic quicksand.
He is the author of Forgive Me Amma, an unauthorized biography of hockey legend Dhanraj Pillay. His second book, The Best of Indian Sports Writing, brought together 16 of the country’s finest bylines — and proved that good sports journalism in India does exist. His third, The Mohammed of Benares and Other Stories, a mix of fiction and fact, was launched in Dhaka, a few days before India clinched its third Asia Cup title. His fourth, Fiercely Female, tells the story of Dutee Chand — a sprinter who ran through prejudice, policy, and patriarchy, and lived to tell the tale.
Sundeep has filed reports and stories from more stadiums than he cares to remember, including Olympic Games, World Cups, and Asian Games. His bylines have appeared in The Indian Express, India Today, The Caravan, The Tribune, Mid-day, Outlook, The Quint, and on more deadline-drenched nights than are good for anyone.
He lives in Delhi, still writing, still waiting for India to inch up the Olympic medal table.