Haripal Kaushik
{{Short description|Indian field hockey player (1934–2018)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_suffix = VrC
| image = Haripal Kaushik.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1934|02|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Jalandhar, British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2018|01|25|1934|02|02}}
| death_place = Jalandhar, India
| nickname = Crisis Man
| birth_name = Haripal Kaushik
| allegiance = {{IND}}
| branch = {{army|India}}
| serviceyears =
| unit = Sikh Regiment
| awards = 30px Vir Chakra
| rank = 25px Lieutenant Colonel
| module = {{Infobox sportsperson
| embed = yes
| sport = Field hockey
| position = Inside-Right
| height = 5 ft 10 in
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | File:Field hockey pictogram.svg Men's Field Hockey }}
{{MedalCountry | {{IND}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }}
{{MedalSport|Men's field hockey}}
{{MedalGold|1956 Melbourne|Team Competition}}
{{MedalGold|1964 Tokyo|Team Competition}}
{{MedalCompetition | Asian Games }}
{{MedalGold | 1966 Asian Games|Team Competition}}
}}
}}
Haripal Kaushik, VrC (2 February 1934 – 25 January 2018) was an Indian field hockey player, military officer and television commentator.{{cite news | last = Khaira | first =Rachna | title =Hockey Olympian Lt Col Haripal Kaushik passes away| newspaper =The Tribune | location =Chandigarh | url =http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/punjab/hockey-olympian-lt-col-haripal-kaushik-passes-away/534490.html | access-date =27 January 2018 }}{{cite web | url =http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=KAUSHHAR01 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070208220403/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=KAUSHHAR01 | url-status =dead | archive-date =2007-02-08 | title =Hari Pal Kaushik | date =2006 | website =database Olympics.com | access-date =27 January 2018 }}
Field hockey
He won gold medals in the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1964 Summer Olympics. He was vice captain of the team that won the gold medal in the 1966 Asian Games, and was later a field hockey administrator and television commentator.{{cite web | url =https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/hari-pal-kaushik-1.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200417235315/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/hari-pal-kaushik-1.html | url-status =dead | archive-date =2020-04-17 | title =Hari Pal Kaushik | website = SR/Olympic sports| quote =also was Assistant Captain in 1966 when India won the gold medal at the Asian Games. Nine times Kaushik played for the Service XI team in the All-India hockey tournaments, captaining the team four times. He later became a hockey coach for the Sikh Regiment Centre team. He also served as an administrator in the sport and a commentator on televised hockey games. }} He received the Arjuna Award for excellence in athletic competition in 1998.
Military service
Commissioned into the Indian Army in 1959, Kaushik served in the 1st Battalion of the Sikh Regiment.
In the early days of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Kaushik was commanding the forward company at the Battle of Bumla along the border between India and China when the Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded on 23 October. During heavy combat with much larger enemy forces, he led a successful retreat, saving the unit's heavy machine guns and mortars.{{cite book | last =Singh Kler | first =Gurdip | title =Unsung Battles of 1962| publisher =Lancer Publishers | date =1995 | pages =3, 224–233 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=hciHTVUILb4C&q=Haripal+Kaushik&pg=PA3
| isbn =9781897829097 }}
Kaushik was awarded the Vir Chakra for "exemplary courage and self-disregard" on the battlefield. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Haripal Stadium at the Indian Army's Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre in Ahmednagar is named in his honor.{{cite news | title =Raising of the Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre | newspaper =SALUTE to the Indian Soldier | date =10 September 2017 | url =https://salute.co.in/raising-of-the-mechanised-infantry-regimental-centre/ | access-date =27 January 2018 }}
Vir Chakra
The citation for the Vir Chakra awarded to him reads:
{{Quotation|{{center|CITATION
(LIEUTENANT HARI PAL KAUSHAK)
}}
Lieutenant Hari Pal Kaushak was commanding a Company holding the Tongpengla position in N.E.F.A. At 05.30hrs on 23rd October 1962 the Chinese started attacking with a Regiment on the Bumla axis with the intention of breaking through to Towang. His company's position was first attacked by a Chinese Battalion, but the attack was repulsed, with heavy losses, by his forward platoon. After the fall of the forward platoon, a second Battalion of the enemy attacked on a wide front trying to overrun the Company's position. Lieutenant Kaushak moved from one section position to another under enemy fire encouraging his troops. He was a source of inspiration to his men who continued to fight with great determination under his leadership. Eventually when under heavy enemy pressure he was ordered to withdraw. he handled the withdrawal skilfully and managed to clear, in the face of enemy fire, all his personnel and weapons including heavy mortars and medium machine guns.{{cite web | url=https://gallantryawards.gov.in/Awardee/hari-pal-kaushak | title=Hari Pal Kaushak | publisher=Gallantry Awards, Ministry of Defence, Government of India | access-date=12 February 2020 }}}}
Family and later years
He was married to Prem Bala Kaushik, who died before him in 1983. They had one daughter, Veronica. Kaushik took early retirement from his military service and worked for a sugar mill in Phagwara as a general manager. He also created Goal Getter which was his own brand of hockey sticks.{{Cite news |last=Ghosh |first=Avijit |date=29 December 2023 |title=With a stick this Olympian wiped away the scars of 1962 China war |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/with-a-stick-this-olympian-wiped-away-the-scars-of-1962-china-war/articleshow/106368305.cms |access-date=2024-01-02 |issn=0971-8257}} He died at his home in the Jalandhar cantonment, after suffering from dementia for several years. A book titled Camouflage: Forgotten Stories from Battlefields written by Probal DasGupta was released in November 2023 which features a chapter on the life of Kaushik, namely Rise after the Fall of 1962: The Amazing Comeback of Haripal Kaushik.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-12 |title=Book Review: Camouflaged |url=https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/book-review-camouflaged/3336471/ |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=Financialexpress |language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{sports links}}
- [http://www.tribuneindia.com/mobi/news/punjab/braveheart-and-hockey-wizard-farewell/534879.html Braveheart and hockey wizard, farewell: Lt Col Haripal Kaushik was a rare combination of valour and sporting proficiency]
{{India FH Squad 1956 Summer Olympics}}
{{India FH Squad 1964 Summer Olympics}}
{{India FH Squad 1966 Asian Games}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaushik, Haripal}}
Category:Field hockey players from Jalandhar
Category:Olympic field hockey players for India
Category:Olympic gold medalists for India
Category:Field hockey players at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Category:Field hockey players at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Indian male field hockey players
Category:20th-century Indian sportsmen
Category:Recipients of the Arjuna Award
Category:Olympic medalists in field hockey
Category:Asian Games medalists in field hockey
Category:Field hockey players at the 1966 Asian Games
Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Category:Deaths from dementia in India