Surinder Singh Sodhi
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's field hockey | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 1980 Moscow | Team Competition |
Surinder Singh Sodhi is a former field hockey player from India. He is famous for playing a major role in getting India the Gold medal in 1980 Olympic games after a gap of 16 years. He played in the center forward position.
In the final against Spain, Surinder Singh Sodhi gave India a rousing start as it established a comfortable three goal lead early in the second half. Surinder Singh Sodhi scoring 2 of those. But Spain gamely bounced back into the game with 2 unanswered goals. With Spain raiding the Indian defence, and with only 6 minutes left, Mohammed Shahid scored a goal. However, with only 4 minutes remaining, Spain scored yet again with their skipper Juan Amat completing his hattrick. The atmosphere in the last few minutes was electric, and India finally won the thriller 4-3, and thus regained the elusive gold after a long time. In previous games Surinder Singh Sodhi scored 5 goals against Tanzania and 4 goals against Cuba.[1]
The 15 goals scored by him in the 1980 Moscow Olympics is the second highest goals at the games and highest tally by an Indian in an Olympic hockey competition. It equalised the earlier record of 15 goals set by the great Udham Singh (field hockey) in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.