Wizard in Indian Hockey - Dhyan Chand the Great !
Dhyan Chand was the greatest player Hockey had ever produced at the international level. The fact that National Sports Day is celebrated in India on 29th August being the date of birth of Dhyan Chand speaks volumes on his calibre and contributions.
Entry of the Wizard into the field
Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August 1905 at Allahabad . After his studies in School, he joined the Brahmin Regiment of the army as a soldier to support his family. He developed a liking for hockey. He started devoting all his spare time to play Hockey. In those days, there were no official facilities for training hockey players and he had to learn it all on his own He did play Hockey and practiced the game to his liking. He was selected for the national duty. Magic stick of Dhyan Chand score
Dhyan Chand was the greatest player the sport has known. His astounding skills have been glorified in various apocryphal stories and anecdotes. A number of such legends revolve around the fact that he had a magical control over dribbling the ball. Dhyan Chand brought world fame to India, as he tops the list of the Indian hockey players. He was called the hockey wizard. On seeing his swift moves and the constant movement of the ball with his stick, the Germans suspected that Dhyan Chand's hockey stick had magnets fitted inside it. His hockey stick was broken up and nothing of that sort has found in it. He continued playing the game with another stick and went on scoring goals one after another. He was a member of the first Indian overseas army team that toured New Zealand in 1926. The team played 21 matches and scored 192 goals with Dhyan Chand scoring over one hundred Goals. India's first Olympics gold medal was in 1928 at Amsterdam. Dhyan Chand was the Center Forward of the Team. On 26th May when the final hockey match was about to be played between India and Holland, Dhyan Chand was running very high fever. But as a brave soldier, he did not keep away from duty. He entered the field like a lion and helped India to record a 3-0 victory by personally scoring two wonderful goals. In the 1932 Olympics hockey championships, India defeated America by 24 goals to one and earned the gold medal. In that match, Dhyan Chand alone scored eight of the 24 goals.In 1936 Olympics, he was the Captain of the Team and won the Gold. In the final against Germany, India scored only once at half time and during the break, Dhyan chand took off his shoes to play barefoot and guided India to a 8-1 emphatic victory. He was promoted from the rank of 'sepoy' (soldier) to that of 'naik' (corporal) by the British government of India. After India's independence, Dhyan Chand was promoted to Major in 1947. The wizard kept playing till the age of 42 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1956.
Dhyan Chand died on 3 December 1979.
It would not be out of place to record here that Ashok Kumar, his Son, scored the goal that won India the 1975 World Cup and India's only World Cup title. A chip of the old block performance.
The country celebrates his birthday, 29 August, as National Sports Day when the President of India gives away all sports awards.
This legendary Hero Dhyan Chand is definitely deserving the Bharat Ratna award more than any other Indian sportsperson.
Attachments
Very enlightening... Especially the significance of August 29th may be a new piece of knowledge for many of us. Shows the importance of Hockey-The national sport once had in our country.