Ranganathan Francis

He was born on 15 March 1920 as Manickam in Rangoon, Myanmar. He moved to Tamil

Nadu just before the independence from the British Empire. He later converted
from Hinduism to Christianity and he changed his name as Ranganathan Francis. He had
one son Christi Roy who became a policeman after joining the Tamil Nadu police as a police
constable. Christi Roy died in 2007 at the age of 45. Francis died on 1 December 1975 at the
age of 55.
Career
He pursued his career as a hockey player with Madras Police and made it to the Indian
national field hockey team as a goalkeeper. Francis represented India at the Olympics in
1948, 1952 and 1956 as a field hockey player.
He served as a substitute goalkeeper for Leo Pinto in his maiden Olympic appearance
which eventually came during the 1948 Summer Olympics where India thrashed Great
Britain 4-0 in the final to clinch gold. He was also part of the Indian team which secured
gold medal in the final against the Netherlands where India registered a comfortable 6-1
win during the 1952 Summer Olympics.[7] He served as a second goalkeeper besides
Shankar Laxman at the 1956 Summer Olympics where India claimed gold defeating
neighbours arch-rivals Pakistan 1-0 in the final.
He also went onto equal the record of Richard Allen for being the only Indian goalkeepers
among the seven hockey players to have won three Olympic gold medals. He also became
only the second Indian hockey goalkeeper after Richard James Allen to feature in three
Olympic Games. Francis also served as a policeman in Madras Police division and retired
from the police service in 1968.

He was referred to as Singam by many on the play field during his peak career. He was also
nicknamed as 'Titan between the Posts' as he was regarded as a very good technician
during his playing days who came way out of his gate when the Indian team attacked and
acted as a defender.
Tamil Nadu also started conducting Inspector Francis Memorial Hockey Tournament
among schools, a tournament named after the veteran Ranganathan Francis.
In April 2019, musical sports drama film Natpe Thunai was released which was partially
based on the true life story of Ranganathan Francis. However, he was referred to as
Aranganathan in the film.
In October 2020, it was revealed that Chennai Hockey Association passed a resolution to
rename the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium which is situated in Egmore as Olympiam
Francis Hockey Stadium in honour of late Ranganathan