| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Ranganathan Mudhaliyar (1920-03-15)15 March 1920 Rangoon,Burma,British India | ||
| Died | 1 December 1975(1975-12-01) (aged 55) Madras (now Chennai),Tamil Nadu, India | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| Madras | |||
| National team | |||
| Years | Team | Caps | Goals |
| India | |||
Medal record | |||
Ranganathan Francis (15 March 1920 – 1 December 1975), was an Indianfield hockey player who played as agoalkeeper. He was member of the Indian team that won gold medals at three consecutiveOlympic games:1948,1952, and1956.[1][2]
Francis was born on 15 March 1920 into aHindu family as Manickam inRangoon,British Burma. He moved toTamil Nadu, India, just before theIndia's independence, and converted toChristianity, changing his name to Ranganathan Francis.[3] Francis died on 1 December 1975 at the age of 55.
Francis pursued his career as a hockey player with Madras Police and made it to the India national team. He representedIndia at the Olympics in 1948, 1952 and 1956.[4]
Francis first came to prominence after his tour of Africa in 1947 with the Indian team led byDhyan Chand.[5] Francis served as a substitute goalkeeper forLeo Pinto in his maiden Olympic appearance, in 1948, when India beat Great Britain 4–0 in the final to clinch gold.[6][7] He was also part of the Indian team which secured gold medal in the final against the Netherlands where India registered a comfortable 6–1 win during the1952 Summer Olympics.[8] Francis served as a second goalkeeper besides Shankar Laxman at the1956 Summer Olympics where India claimed gold defeating neighbours arch-rivals Pakistan 1–0 in the final.[9][10] Francis was part of the Indian squad thattoured Malaya and Singapore in 1954.[5][11]
Francis also went on to equal the record ofRichard Allen for being the only Indian goalkeepers among the seven players to have won three Olympic gold medals. He also became only the second Indian hockey goalkeeper after Allen to feature in three Olympic Games. Francis also served as a policeman in Madras Police division and retired from the police service in 1968.[3]
He was referred to asSingam by many on the play field during his peak career. He was also nicknamed as 'Titan between the Posts' as he was regarded as a very good technician during his playing days who came way out of his gate when the Indian team attacked and acted as a defender.[3]
Tamil Nadu also started conducting Inspector Francis Memorial Hockey Tournament among schools, a tournament named after the veteran Ranganathan Francis.[3]
In April 2019,musicalsports drama filmNatpe Thunai was released which was partially based on the true life story of Ranganathan Francis. However, he was referred to as Aranganathan in the film.[12]
In October 2020, it was revealed that Chennai Hockey Association passed a resolution to rename theMayor Radhakrishnan Stadium which is situated inEgmore as Olympian Francis Hockey Stadium in honour of late Ranganathan Francis.[13]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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