Tribute to Dhyan Chand

Presented by: Dr Seema Mahlawat, Associate Professor, SBMIMSAR, Asthal Bohar, Rohtak.

Taalim nahi di jaati parindo ko udaano ki...

woh to khud hi samajh jaate hain ucchai

aasmano ki..... .....

Taalim nahi di jaati parindo ko

udaano ki... woh to khud hi samjh jaate hain ucchai aasmano

ki..... .....

Taalim nahi di jaati parindo ko udaano ki...

woh to khud hi samajh jaate hain ucchaiyaan aasmano ki..... .....

There are good players, great ones and then those who come close to perfection's embrace. They are not practitioners of a sporting craft, they become its definition. They are not heroes, they are calipers by which other men's heroism is measured...

The icon of Indian Sport hockey

Who symbolized the apotheosis of skill with the hockey stick.

The legend who redefined the game of hockey!! While Indian hockey desperately tries to shed its underdog image, one man still remains the guru of the game in the subcontinent.

Mercurial Dhyan Chand

Dhyan Chand is to hockey what Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar is to cricket, Mohammed Ali to boxing and Pele to football!

India acquired an image as a international sports power in the first quarter of twentieth century, it was Dhyan Chand's proficiency that provided it

Dhyan Chand exhibited to the world a craft whose manifestation was perceived as the Alpha and the Omega of Oriental mystique, an art that defied description. It was simply untouched and unparalleled.

We can judge a man's legend by the quality of myths that surround him. …

Doubtfully Dhyan Chand’s stick was broken by officials in Holland to check if there was a magnet inside; in Japan they declared that it was because of Sticking material. ;

German newspaper carried a banner headline: 'The Olympic complex now has a magic show too.' The next day, there were posters all over Berlin: 'Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action.

Adolf Hitler even wanted to buy his hockey stick.

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Modern players use advertising to give their deeds and personalities and sports images greater flourish. But advertising was in its infancy in those days.

Dhyan Chand had nothing, no reams of literature to record his brilliance, no highlight film for us to gasp at. How come then this reverence has come to rest?

Lets remember this legend by celebrating his sporting career

MAJOR DHYAND CHAND -

HOCKEY WIZARD born on 29th August, 1905 in Allahabad UP in a

family with a military background - his father was a soldier .

Father had to terminate his education after class six due to frequent transfers in the job.

His original name was Dhyan Singh but the Britishers gave him the name of Dhyan Chand as he used to practice hockey even under the moon light.

Dhyan Chand took to hockey in his teens, and quickly came to acquire excellent dribbling skills.

A memorable incident took place in Dhyan Singh’s life when there was a hockey match and he was 14 years old, he accompanied his father to a hockey match played between two Army teams composed of English Officers in which one team was lagging behind two goals. Dhyan repeatedly told his father that if given a stick, he could make the losing team win. His father told him to be quiet. A British Army Officer sitting nearby also scolded him. But Dhyan Singh kept oninsisting for playing and the officer finally allowed him to play. Dhyan went to the field and scored 4 goals. So impressed was the officer that he inducted Dhyan Singh into the Children Platoon. This is how his career in Hockey started.

He was 24 years old when he first represented the country in the 1928 Olympic Games, Amsterdam and won with a 6-0 triumph against Austria. And this signaled the Olympic saga, and the glorious era of Dhyan Chand.

At the age of 32 He was captain of the Indianteam in the 1936 Olympic at Berlin.

He was part of the Gold winning Indian team in three Olympic Games (1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin).

Dhyan Chand won 3 Olympic Gold medals in 1928, 1932 & 1936.

SELFLESS PERSON

He was admired not only by his fans internationally but also by his opponents. He was an innately selfless person. If he ever felt either of the two flanks was in a better position to score, he would flick the ball to the well-placed player instantly.

Unbelievably simple and a perfect specimen of a gentleman,

MAN OF PRINCIPLES AND A TRUE PATRIOT

After watching him play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Hitler offered Dhyan Chand, German citizenship and a higher army post. The prolific striker politely turned it down.

He was a patriot to the backbone & full of Indian ideology, so he refused this offer.

SYMBOL OF PASSION AND HARD WORK

Hockey for Dhyan Chand was a religion, invoking in him the passion of an ardent devotee. His rise from the ranks of an ordinary Sepoy to the level of a Major was purely on account of his skills exhibited in hockey.

1936, German newspaper carried a banner headline: 'The Olympic complex now has a magic show too.' The next day, there were posters all over Berlin: 'Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action.

THE MAN FULL OF LIFE

Cooking was his another favorite hobby. He was a non-vegetarian and enjoyed making mutton and fish dishes. He liked making halwa dripping with ghee.

His favorite pastime was billiards, cricket, caroms and

photography.

1956 he was awarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

The last days of Dhyan Chand were not very happy, as he was short of money and used to receive a meager pension.

He was badly ignored by the nation.

He developed liver cancer, and was sent to a general ward at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Then he went into a coma and the man of high respect, died impecunious and uncared in the hospital on 3rd December, 1979.

His birthday is celebrated

every year as National Sports Day.

The Indian Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his memory.

Dhyan Chand National Stadium at New Delhi has been named after him.

Goal" is the autobiography of Hockey wizard Dhyan Chand published by Sport & Pastime, Chennai, 1952