7 times Indian football team punched above their weight in international tournaments

1951 Asian Games, Delhi

The 1st Asian games were held in 1951 in Delhi. It was held five years before the official AFC Asian Cup started in 1956. So this was the first continental championship of Asia. And the first Asian champions was INDIA.

India became the 1st Asian champions under the captaincy of Sailendra Nath Manna

All the matches were played at the National Stadium, Delhi. Eight teams were expected to participate, but only six teams, Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Indonesia, Iran and Japan joined the host India. The Indian team for the tournament was as follows:

Goalkeepers: B. Anthony, K.L. Varadaraj.

Backs: Sailendra Nath Manna(C), Syed Khwaja Azizuddin, T.M. Varghese [alias Papen], Sunil Chatterjee.

Half Backs: Abdul Latif, Noor Mohammed, Chandan Singh Rawat, Abhoy Ghosh, D.N. Jones, T. Shanmugham.

Forwards: Pansanttom Venkatesh, G.Y.S. Laiq, M.A. Sattar, P.B.A. Saleh, Runu Guha Thakurta, Sahu Mewalal, Santosh Nandy, M. Ahmed Khan, Loganathan, A.M. Bachan.

Coach: Syed Abdul Rahim; Manager: Kartick Chandra Mukherjee

(Note: Squad information courtesy indianfootball.de)

The match duration for the tournament was 60 minutes. It started directly from the quarter-finals, with Afganistan and Japan getting a bye to the semis. India played Indonesia in the quarters, beating them 3-0. Mewalal scored a brace in the 27th and 42nd minute, with Venkatesh applying the finishing touches in the 44th minute.

In the semis, India faced Afganistan and comfortably won the match 3-0, with Venkatesh, Mewalal and Nandy on the scoresheet in the 10th, 16th and 55th minutes respectively. The other semifinals saw Iran beating Japan. The final with Iran was a tight contest, but Sahu Mewalal’s 34th-minute strike was enough for India to clinch the gold medal on home soil. The performance of Indian team, in which many players played barefoot, was so emphatic that not a single goal was conceded by them!