Dhyan Singh (later Dhyan Chand) was born on 29 August 1905 in Prayagaraj (then Allahabad) to Sharadha Singh and Sameshwar Singh. He had two brothers, Mool Singh and Roop Singh. Later, Roop Singh played hockey for British Indian Team along with Dhyan Chand. His father had played hockey as he was a part of the British Indian army. Initially Dhyan Chand never had interest in playing hockey but he actually loved wrestling.
In 1922, 17-year old Dhyan Singh was enlisted in the first Brahmans Regiment in Delhi. The regiment was known for its Hockey team and soon Dhyan also started playing hockey. Dhyan was soon noted by Major Bale Tiwari. He was impressed by the way how Dhyan takes the ball along. Tiwari started mentoring Dhyan and his natural talent of playing Hockey started flourishing. Soon, he was named was in the list of those selected for Annual Military Hockey Tournament. It was a event where different regiments participated and everyone was looking forward to it.
After matches, everyone used to get tired and took a good sleep at night. But Dhyan often used to practice even at night. Due to this habit of him playing at night under the moon, his fellow sepoys started calling him Dhyan Chand instead of Dhyan Singh (Chand means Moon in Hindi).
His game had impressed everyone. He was selected to represent Indian Army in the tour to New Zealand. The team sailed from Colombo (present day - Sri Lanka) in April 1926. There the Indian team played 21 matches, winning 18, drawing 2 and lost only 1. Whole Indian team together scored 192 goals in that tour in which 100+ goals were of Dhyan Chand alone. On the other hand, New Zealand team scored just 24. After returning to India, Dhyan was promoted to the post of Lance Naik.
In 1925, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) had set up. Soon they got international recognition when the federation became a part of International Hockey Federation. To make a team for the 1925 Amsterdam Olympics, an Inter-Provincial Tournament was held. The tournament was held between the teams of 5 provinces - Bengal, United Province, Central Province, Rajputana and Punjab. Dhyan Chand played for the U.P. (United Province) team. The team performed brilliantly well.
Dhyan Chand was selected for the national team, which everyone expected to. The team was to reach Amsterdam via England. Before departing, the selected team played a match against Bombay XI where they got stunned. The Indian team lost by 3-2. In England, they played a 11 matches, winning them all, It is said that British Team withdrew their team from Amsterdam Olympics because they could not see their team losing from a colonized side.
India was the only non-European side and was put in pool A along with Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland. India thrashed all the team, winning 6-0 against Austria, 9-0 against Belgium, 5-0 against Denmark, 6-0 against Switzerland. The Final was played on 26 May 1928 against the Netherlands. Star players of India, Feroze Khan and Shaukat Ali got ill. Even Dhyan Chand was having fever but he still played for the country. India defeated the hosts by 3-0. Indian team won it's country's first gold medal. Chand was the top-scorer of the tournament. A newspaper reported Dhyan Chand as magician of the game. The Netherland authorities also broke Dhyan Chand's stick to check whether it had a magnet inside.
In the year 1929, the U.S. Stock Market crashed. IHF took loan from the Punjab National Bank. For the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, trials were held in Calcutta. Army refused to send Dhyan Chand, they stated that he does not need to prove his game. Roop Singh, Dhyan's brother was the find of the trials. In 1932 Olympics, India faced Japan in its first match and won 11-1. This was just a trailer. India won 24-1 against USA in their second match of the tournament. This remain a record for a very long time and was only broken in 2003. India defended their title and again won the Gold Medal.
In 1936 Berlin Olympics, Dhyan Chand was appointed as captain of the Indian National Team. This was the first Olympics which were televised. Indian team won all their league matches against Hungary, U.S. and Japan. India faced France in Semi-Final and won it too. Now the finals was against the host Germany. Before the game, Pankaj Gupta hoisted the Congress tricolor. The team saluted and respected the flag. Germany was playing brilliantly and was able to stop India to score a goal till the first interval. But India fought back and won the game 8-1, retaining their Gold Medal.
This was the last Olympic Game for the legend as 1940 and 1944 games were cancelled due to World War II. Dhyan Chand was promoted to the post of Lieutenant in 1943, but British officers refrained from sending him to frontline due to his safety issues. After India got independent, he was soon promoted to the rank of Captain in the Army.
Craze of the legend
- In late 1947, he came out of retirement to lead an Indian side to East Africa. This was just because the African demanded his presence in the Indian team. The then 42 year old Dhyan Chand didn't disappoint them and he displayed his magic to the large audience who were just there to see him.
- During the army tour of New Zealand in the year 1926, Dhyan Chand's stick broke and he threw it away. It is said that after 50 years when Dhyan Chand's son, Ashok Kumar was playing in New Zealand, and aged person came to him and showed him a piece of wood which he collected when Dhyan Chand threw that particular stick.
- A very famous narration that goes on is that Hitler offered a high post to Dhyan Chand in the German army after seeing his game in the finals of 1936 Berlin Olympic. Dhyan Chand politely refused Hitler's offer. However, he never mentioned this story in his autobiography 'GOAL' but he used to tell this story to his family members.
- On 6 August 2021, highest sporting honor of India was named after Major Dhyan Chand. It is awarded annually by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Truly a legend and a magician. Hats off!!
ReplyDeleteWish could see him playing.
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