Politics-1, Olympics-0: How Punjab elections pitted a hockey gold medallist against a 2-time Olympian

Even though two-time hockey Olympian Pargat Singh's political party Indian National Congress lost political power in Punjab, he defied all odds to retain his seat against Olympic gold medallist Surinder Singh Sodi.

Pargat was one of the only 18 Congress party representatives to win in a 117-member assembly. He won with 32.63 percent, winning against Aam Aadmi Party's representative Surinder Singh Sodi, a member of the 1980 Olympic gold medal-winning team.

With three straight wins, Pargat denied Surinder from creating history. Surinder was bidding to become only the second Olympic gold medallist to be elected to state office in India. He was leading the early stage of counting but ended up second with 27.99 percent votes.

If Surinder had won, he would have become the first Olympic gold medalist in 55 years to have won political office in India. Jaipal Munda, former Indian hockey captain and member of the 1928 Olympic champion team, had won three terms to the Lok Sabha in the 1950s and 1960s as a member of the prior Jharkhand Party.

While Surinder had won the Olympic gold medal, his rival, Pargat won the elections.