![]() Pathak in 2024 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Born | Kapurthala, Punjab, India | 24 April 1997||
Height | 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) [1] | ||
Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
Senior career | |||
Years | Team | ||
Hockey Punjab | |||
Petroleum Sports Promotion Board | |||
Indian Oil Corporation | |||
2024– | Kalinga Lancers | ||
National team | |||
Years | Team | Caps | Goals |
2016 | India U21 | 1 | (0) |
2018– | India | 155 | (0) |
Krishan Bahadur Pathak (born 24 April 1997) is an Indian field hockey player who plays as a goalkeeper for the Indian national team.
Pathak was born on 24 April 1997 in Kapurthala, Punjab. He is of Nepalese descent; his parents migrated from Lugdi village in Nepal to Punjab in 1990. His ancestral village is about six hours away from the capital Kathmandu. [2] Despite not being interested in the sport, Pathak had joined the Surjit Hockey Academy in Jalandhar when he was 12 at the insistence of his father. [3] Pathak's mother died when he was 12, while his father Tek Bahadur Pathak, a crane operator, died of a heart attack in 2016. [3] [4] [5]
Pathak was part of the Indian junior team that won the 2016 Men's Hockey Junior World Cup in Lucknow. He was then selected in the India A team for the 2017 Men's Australian Hockey League. He made his India senior team debut in January 2018 when the team participated in a four-team invitational tournament in New Zealand. [6] Pathak found a place in the squad for 2018 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup as India's first-choice goalkeeper P. R. Sreejesh was rested. He then played as a reserve goalkeeper in the 2018 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy where India won the silver medal and the 2018 Asian Games where India won bronze.[ citation needed ]
Pathak was the reserve goalkeeper at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo where India won the bronze medal. [7] Finally he won gold medal in 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. [8]
Pathak received the Arjuna Award from the President of India on 9 January 2024. [9]