Punjab: Balbir Singh Senior admitted to a private hospital due to pneumonia

The family took the decision to get him admitted to a private hospital in Mohali, where Singh is now undergoing treatment at the General ICU ward.

“Nanaji is in ICU right now. He was admitted last evening with complaints of pneumonia. He is on ventilator, but better than yesterday,” said his grandson Kabir.

Dr Rajinder Kalra, Senior’s doctor as well as the family doctor, said, “He is currently in ICU but better than yesterday. His sample was collected for Covid-19 test and the results are expected to come on Sunday.”

“While he had recovered well from his prior illness and was active at his Sector 36 home, he was facing some health problems for a week. Last year, he came home after spending 108 days in ICU at PGIMER. He had been spending time playing scrabble or ludo during his rest time with family members during lockdown and we expect that he will get well soon,” said another family member.

Senior, who won three Olympic gold medals with the Indian hockey team in 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics, respectively, had celebrated his 96th birthday at his Sector 36 home on December 31 last year.

The family had arranged for a cake with replicas of his three Olympic gold medals and the hockey legend also followed Indian hockey team’s matches in the FIH Pro league on television.

In March, Singh also met Tokyo Olympics quota winner boxer Simranjit Kaur at his residence.

“Due to the lockdown, we faced some difficulty in terms of having the medical care takers at our home. Only one attendant used to come in the day and my grandfather spent most his time taking rest. He made sure that he lighted a diya on April 5 to show his gratitude for the medical and other emergency staff fighting this pandemic,” Senior’s grandson Kabir Singh Bhomia had told this paper earlier this month.