Gangotri, member of India’s Asian Games gold medal-winning hockey team, passes away

Former Indian women’s hockey player Gangotri Bhandari, who represented the country at the Moscow 1980 Olympics, died on Tuesday at the age of 69. Born on August 13, 1956, in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal, Gangotri Bhandari moved to Jaipur in 1966.

“Hockey India mourns the passing of Olympian Gangotri Bhandari Bist!  Lt. Bist represented India at the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics, the 1979 Women’s Field Hockey IFWHA World Championship and the 1983 Women’s Hockey World Cup. She was also a member of the Indian team that competed at the 1982 Asian Games. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones,” say a Hockey India post on social media.

After retiring from hockey in the mid 1980s, Bhandari served as the Chief Office Superintendent in the Jaipur division of North Western Railway.

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She began playing hockey during her school years and soon rose through the ranks to represent India internationally.

A year after representing India at the World Hockey Championship in Vancouver, Canada, she was named in the squad for the Moscow 1980 Olympics, which proved to be a breakthrough tournament for Indian women’s hockey.

India finished fourth with five points from five matches, scoring nine goals and conceding six. The Indian team narrowly missed the bronze medal, finishing just behind the Soviet Union on the points table.

At the 1982 Asian Games, Gangotri was part of the squad that consisted of stars like Eliza Nelson, Razia Zaidi, Varsha Soni and Anurita Saini. The Indian women’s team created history by winning gold on home soil, a result that still stands as the country’s best performance at the continental event

The fourth-place finish remained the Indian women’s hockey team’s best result at the Olympics until Rani Rampal’s side equalled the achievement at Tokyo 2020.

Winning the gold medals at the 1981 Asia Cup in Kyoto, Japan, and the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi were some of the other high points of Gangotri Bhandari’s hockey career.

At the 1982 Asian Games, Gangotri was part of the squad that consisted of stars like Eliza Nelson, Razia Zaidi, Varsha Soni and Anurita Saini. The Indian women’s team created history by winning gold on home soil, a result that still stands as the country’s best performance at the continental event.

Gangotri Bhandari was also part of the Indian squad at the 1983 Women’s Hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.