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Keshav Chandra Datt was among the last few links to the era when Indian field hockey dominated the world. The celebrated half-back was part of the 1948 and 1952 Olympic gold-winning teams, the achievements coming soon after India attained independence in 1947. Datt, who died in Kolkata aged 95 on July 7, 2021, was the last surviving member of the 1948 London Games champion team.
How different those times were can be gauged from the fact that Datt was said to have been denied leave by his employers for the 1956 Olympics, thus missing out on a hat-trick of golds.
He was vice-captain of the 1952 side and had also been named in a national preparatory camp for the 1956 Games. Keshav Datt would later say that getting the chance to be part of two Olympic Games was in itself huge as India had so many top players competing for spots at that time.
So much so that he felt that breaking through into the Indian hockey team then was harder than winning the gold!
Datt, who represented the storied Mohun Bagan club in Kolkata, was also said to arrive a bit late for local league games for the same reason for which he missed the 1956 Games; he was not allowed to leave office too early.
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