Harcharan Singh Boparai was born on 15 January 1950 at Marar village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.
He studied at Khalsa High School, Sheikhpura (Gurdaspur). He played for Punjab Schools in the National Schools Games in the mid-sixties and then joined Punjab State College of Sports, Jalandhar where he went on to lead the College Hockey team and represented the University Hockey Team in Intervarsity Hockey Championship and was a member of the combined University Hockey team.
While studying in college, he began representing Punjab State Hockey Team in the National Hockey Championship. He played four Nationals for Punjab from 1969 to 1972 and won all of them.
He won his first international cap when he was selected to play in the 1st test match against Kenya on 20 March 1969 in Amritsar, Punjab, India.
On joining the Army, he captained the Services team in six of the nine Nationals he played for them from 1973 to 1981. The following year, he played Test matches against Singapore and won Silver Medal at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok. He was in the team that toured England and Germany in 1971.
He represented India at the 1st World Cup in Barcelona, Spain in 1971 where India earned the Bronze medal.
He played in the 1971 South - East Asian Championship in Singapore. And the following year he represented India at Munich 1972 Olympic Games where India won the Bronze medal.
He represented India at the 2nd World Cup in Amsterdam in 1973, winning the Silver medal.
He played against Poland, France and Argentina in 1973 and was chosen to play against Asian All Star team in 1974. He represented India in the 1974 Asian Games at Teheran winning the Silver medal.
He represented India in the 3rd World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 1975, winning the Gold medal, the only time India has won Gold Medal in Hockey World Cup.
He represented India at Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
He was awarded the Indian National Award ‘Arjuna Puraskar' in 1977 and the Vishisht Seva Medal in 1981.
He retired from the Army in 2006 having risen to the rank of Brigadier in the Indian Army.
He was conferred with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by the Punjab Government in July 2019.
He is one of four hockey players in the world, all Indians, who have won all shades of medals in World Cup - Gold in Kuala Lumpur 1975, Silver in Amsterdam 1973 and Bronze in Barcelona 1971.
He is currently the founder President of Punjab State Sports Superstar Association and resides in Amritsar.