Guru Dutt Sondhi attended Punjab University where he was a leading distance runner, winning the 880 yards and cross-country championships of that school in 1911. He then attended Cambridge University, eventually becoming a lawyer in London. In 1939 he was the first Indian to become Principal of the Government College in Lahore.
Dutt Sondhi was co-opted onto the IOC in March 1932 and served for 34 years. He was a member of the Executive Board from 1961-65. In India he served multiple positions leading sports federations, including Secretary-General of the Indian Olympic Association (1928-52), Chairman of the Punjab Olympic Association (1927-38), President of the Indian Amateur Athletics Federation (1938-45), and Vice-President of the Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) in 1946. Dutt Sondhi was one of the founders of the Asian Games Federation in 1948. Believing in the independence of politics and sport, he stood up for the rights of Israel and Taiwan to attend the 1962 Asian Games in Djakarta, which was unpopular politically, and invoked hostile reactions against his home and his person, as he barely escaped hostile mobs at the Indian Embassy.
India