Kolkata: Joginder Singh, a member of the gold winning Indian hockey squad at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, died on Wednesday morning at a hospital after protracted illness.

Singh (63), survived by his wife and a son, was suffering from kidney problems and breathed his last at the Garden Reach Hospital of South Eastern Railway, family sources said.

Singh, whose international career spanned from 1959 to 1967, represented India in two Olympics with the first being Rome in 1960, which saw India win the silver medal in hockey.

Singh, an ace right-winger and one of the finest that India has ever produced, was also a member of the Indian hockey squad which claimed the silver medal in the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games.

The crowning glory of his hockey career was the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

Joginder's contemporary, Olympian Gurbax Singh, described him as one of the finest right wingers that India has ever produced.

Expressing shock at the death, Gurbax said "Joginder was a real genius and a thorough gentleman."

Joginder played for and coached erstwhile Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) for more than 20 years till his retirement from South Eastern Railway, of which he was an employee.

PTI