India@75: 7 forgotten sports legends

DR TALIMEREN AO: AO captained independent India's first football team at the 1948 London Olympics. The barefoot team impressed spectators but missed two penalties to lose 2-1 to France. The Naga footballer also captained Mohun Bagan but refused an Arsenal offer in order to pursue medicine. He retired as director of health services in Nagaland in 1978.
SACHIN NAG: PM Nehru rushed to hug Nag when he won India's only Asian Games swimming gold to date, at the 1st Asian Games held at Delhi in 1951.Earlier, at the 1948 London Olympics, his 4 goals helped India beat Chile 7-4 in water polo. Delhi's Asian Games village has a residential block named after him.
NEVILLE D'SOUZA: At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, India beat Australia 4-2 in football, powered by Neville D'Souza's three goals. No Indian has scored an Olympic hat-trick since. His opportunism also put India ahead of Yugoslavia in the semis before the game was lost.
SHANKAR LAXMAN: In the 1964 Olympic hockey final, Mohinder Lal converted a penalty stroke to put India ahead of Pakistan 1-0. Then, goalie Laxman thwarted Pakistan's attacks to preserve the lead and avenge the loss at Rome in 1960. A three-time Olympian and army man, Laxman also led India to gold in the 1966 Asian Games. He spent his last days in hardship and died of gangrene.
MURLIKANT PETKAR: With a bullet from the 1965 Pakistan war still lodged in his spine, army jawan Murlikant Petkar became the first Indian to win a gold at the Paralympics, in Heidelberg 1972. He defied paralysis to not only win the 50m freestyle swimming event but also set a world record of 37. 3 seconds.
SHANTI MULLICK: India's first woman footballer to receive the Arjuna Award, Mullick was a relentless goal-scorer in the late 1970s and early 1980s when teams from Sweden, Thailand, Australia and England (Tiverton Ladies FC) came calling, and when India finished runners-up twice (1980 and 1983) in Asian football championships. A national handball champion too, she ironically got a railways job for her hockey skills!
JIMMY GEORGE: Italy has a road and an indoor stadium named after George, arguably India's greatest volleyballer ever. With his gravity-defying leaps and blistering smashes, he was a world-class act. He won the Arjuna award when just 21, and for five years enthralled the highly-competitive Italian league. He died aged 32 in a road accident in 1987.