The name Jita Singh is a familiar one for anyone who has followed the progress of Singapore Football, especially, during the halcyon days of the Singapore national team during the late 1970's through to the mid-1980's.

From 1979 up until 1984, Jita Singh was at the forefront of Singapore soccer as the coach of its national team. Jita's greatest achievement came during his second year as Singapore's national coach.

In 1980 coach Jita led the Singapore team to Malaysia Cup glory. The following year Singapore again reached the Cup finals under Jita's tutelage but emerged as eventual runners-up.

Jita first started playing football when he joined the Windsor Rovers Sports Club in 1961 at the age of 12 years. Six years later, at 18, he was playing at the national level. He played for the national team for five years ('69-'73) after which he enrolled in soccer coaching courses.

Jita initially distinguished himself at the Inter-Constituency level in 1975 when he coached Whampoa Constituency and took them to the finals of the Prime Minister's Cup. He was appointed assistant coach to the national intermediate squad in 1977 and a year later he was made coach of the intermediate squad (known as the Kings Cubs). Jita distinguished himself when he steered the team to the finals of the King's Cup tournament held in Bangkok.

Harking back to the Malaysia Cup win of 1980, that year also saw Jita Singh's team doing remarkably well at the Pre-Olympics qualifying tournament - beating formidable China and North Korea before succumbing to mighty Iran at the finals.

In recognition of his far-reaching exploits during the year 1980, Jita Singh was awarded the Coach of the Year award 1980 by the selection panel of judges.

Today, close to 50 years after he kicked his first ball at the Windsor Rovers Sports Club, Jita is still involved in the game as the Coach of Youth Development at the Football Association of Singapore.