Ajit Singh Gill

Ajit Singh Gill was born in Kuala Lumpur with asthma, but overcame it to have a lengthy career as a sportsman, eventually focusing on field hockey. He moved to Singapore in the early 1950s and reached the pinnacle of his sporting activities in 1956, when he was selected to represent his adopted country in field hockey at that year’s Melbourne Olympics. There, Singapore won two of its three preliminary matches, losing only to long-time Olympic champion India, but this was not enough to advance and, in the classification round, the nation lost all three games to place eighth overall.

This was Singh Gill’s only Olympic experience, but he continued to play hockey through 1975 and took part in many other international matches during that time. He was also involved in cricket and golf, was a torch bearer for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore, and was still competing in seniors’-level walking races at the age of 90. By career he was an educator.