Singh was a member of the team during a time that India enjoyed a run of unprecedented success in the sport.

Between Amsterdam 1928 and Tokyo 1964, India reached the final in eight consecutive Games, winning the gold medal in seven of them.

Singh captaining the team to gold with a 1-0 win over Pakistan at Tokyo 1964 was particularly significant because four years earlier in Rome, India had suffered their first loss in an Olympic final against their arch-rivals.

Singh was regarded as one of the best halfbacks in the world in his prime but had missed the final against Pakistan in the Italian capital because he broke his leg in India’s 2-1 victory over Great Britain in the final.

India had also been beaten 2-0 by Pakistan in the final of the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta so, by the time the two met in Tokyo, national pride was very much on the line.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes to Singh.

"Saddened by the passing away of noted Hockey player, Shri Charanjit Singh," Modi wrote on social media.

"He played a key role in the successes of the Indian Hockey Team, most notably in the Rome and Tokyo Olympics in the 1960s.

"Condolences to his family and friends.

"Om Shanti [peace in body]."

Singh was a recipient of the Indian Government's Arjuna Award, the country’s the second-highest sporting honour, in 1963 and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 1964.

At Tokyo 1964, Singh’s role was to feed the forward line, including Harbinder Singh, scorer of five goals in a tournament remembered by everyone who played in it for the rain that poured in every match.

"Despite rain, Charanjit made sure that the centre-line fed the ball to the forward-line and communicated well with the defence line too as the ball would sometimes slip," Harbinder Singh told The Indian Express.

"He was not very flashy, but a compact player and he showed that by countering Pakistani centre-forwards."

The Indian Express claimed that Singh would be "remembered as one of the key men responsible for India regaining its supremacy on the hockey field".

Since that famous victory at Tokyo 1964, India have only reached the Olympic final once, at the boycotted 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow when they beat Spain 4-3 to win their eighth - and so far - last gold medal.

After his retirement from the sport, Singh served as the dean of student welfare at Punjab Agricultural University and later at the Hisar Agricultural University, before going on to become the director of sports at Himachal Pradesh University.

Singh died from a heart attack at his home in Una in Himachal Pradesh, on January 27, seven days before his 91st birthday.