To the late Brigadier Dalip Singh goes the credit of being the first Sikh to represent India in the Olympics.
The Sikh had missed the bus only four years ago when six Indian athletes had participated in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
When the trials were to be held at Lahore (now in Pakistan) for the Paris Olympics, Dalip Singh was scheduled to play for Patiala Tigers, a hockey team.
It was here that the Maharaja of Patiala came to recognise his worth and helped him take a well-deserved place in the seven -man athletic team.
Another honour which went to Dalip Singh was that he was the first Indian, a Sikh, to be the torch-bearer at the inaugural Asian Games at Delhi in 1951.