New Delhi/Bhopal: Renowned hockey historian and statistician Baboolal Goverdhan Joshi died in Bhopal on Tuesday due to Covid-related complications. He was 67 and is survived by his wife and two sons.
A passionate lover of the sport, Joshi started maintaining hockey records in the early 1970s and also contributed hockey statistics to several reputed national dailies.
What began as a mere interest when he jotted down details of a few matches during the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, soon turned into an obsession, and Joshi became the go-to man for hockey statistics from across the world.
During the 1982 World Cup in Bombay, he brought out a special issue and before the 1986 World Cup he brought out a magazine.
Hockey India president, Gyanendro Ningombam, said on Tuesday that, "Hockey India deeply mourns the demise BG Joshi. Despite his full-time job as an engineer with the Madhya Pradesh Water Resource Department, he would remain committed to his passion of keeping up with the numbers.
"There is perhaps no player in the history of modern hockey that BG Joshi didn't have statistics about. He kept records of players, their debuts, goals, goal assists and so on and also maintained records of global hockey. We have lost a true fan of hockey," said Ningombam.
