Major Dhyan Chand

1. Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August, 1905 at Allahabad. His father was in the British Indian army. Dhyan Chand spent most of his early time at Jhansi. At the age of 16 Dhyan Chand joined the army and took to serious hockey. In the year 1926, he was selected for the Indian hockey team slated to tour New Zealand. Thereafter, Dhyan Chand played a monumental role in India winning 3 successive Olympic hockey gold medals (in 1928, 1932 and 1936).In the .....

Achievements and Accolades

2. Players like Dhyanchand become a synonym of the game; he is not a hero; he has become the parameter of hockey by which other players caliber is measured. It is surprising to know that Dhyan Chand, who came to be known as hockeys magician, started playing hockey only after joining the army! Dhyanchand took to playing hockey in army and was included in the Indian Hockey team for the 1926 New Zealand tour.By his superior play, Dhyan Chand was held i .....

Turning Point

3. Dhyanchand joined the army at the age of 16 and this proved a turning point of his carrier. It was from there that Dhyan Chand started playing hockey. After that Dhyanchand rose in the hockey field like a meteor. This became an important milestone of his carrier. .....

Early Promise

4. As soon as Dhyan Chand joined the army, his tryst with hockey began. After that there was no looking back for this magician of Indian hockey, popularly known as hockeys jadoogar. His exciting stick work encouraged the army to allow him to concentrate on the game. Dhyan Chand took part in the inter provincial hockey championship and made an immediate impact on the national hockey scene. From the very outset Dhyan Chand showed a lot of promise and .....

Ups And Downs

5. Once Dhyan Chand started playing hockey, there was no looking back for him. In fact, he went on scaling great heights in hockey and achieved great feats. Dhyan Chand rose in international hockey like a meteor and kept shining like the Sun. Soon Dhyan Chand became folklore. Such was the charisma of this legend that people thought that he had some magic in his hockey sticks. Dhyan Chands name became synonymous with hockey. So great was the standard .....

Achievements

6. Won 3 gold medals in Olympic games Awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1956.Dhyan Chand Singh was an Indian Hockey player, and considered to be the all time greatest player the game of Hockey has ever seen the world over. He has probably been the only Indian player ever in any sport which skills so high that generated a number of myths about his abilities as a Hockey player. .....

Early Life

7. He was born on the 29th of August 1905 at Prayag (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh to a Bais Rajput family. His father served the Indian Army as a Subedar, and played the game of Hockey. Initially known as Dhyan Singh, he had 2 brothers named Mool Singh and Roop Singh, the latter one too being an accomplished Hockey player. Dhyan could not resume his studies after 6th standard as his family used to move from one place to another, before finally settling .....

Introduction to Hockey

8. In his younger days, Dhyan was not much interested into sports although he liked wrestling a lot. He started playing Hockey with his friends who used to themselves make Hockey sticks from tree branches and balls from ragged clothes. At the age of 14 years he visited a Hockey match with his father, where one team was down by 2 goals. He insisted his father to play from the losing side, and when an Army Officer let him do so, Dhyan scored 4 goals f .....

Beginning of Legendry Days

9. There are many incidents that describe the grandeur of Dhyan Chands amazing skills as a wonderful Hockey player. In one of them, he scored 3 goals in the last 4 minutes of a match wherein his team was losing by 2 goals, and got his team the victory in the match. This was the Final match of the Punjab Infantry Tournament in Jhelum. After this match, Dhyan Chand was named the Hockey Wizard.Dhyan Chand delivered brilliant performance in the first In .....

International Career

10. In the year 1926 Dhyan Chand was selected for the Indian Hockey team going to visit New Zealand at a tour. During the tour, the Indian team scored 20 goals in a match played at Dannkerke, and Dhyan Chand alone had scored 10 of them. India played 21 matches on the tour, out of which it won 18, lost 1 and drew 2 matches. The team scored a total number of 192 goals and Dhyan Chand alone had scored over 100 of them. After his return to India, he was .....

Awards Achievements

11. For his extra ordinary services to the nation, the Government of India celebrates Dhyan Chands birthday (29th of August) as National Sports Day. The Indian Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his memory, and the Dhyan Chand National Stadium at New Delhi has been named after him. He was honored by the Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India in the year 1956. .....

Olympic fame

12. Indian hockey team made its Olympic debut in 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and went on to won the countrys first ever Olympic gold medal. Major Dhyan Chand was the top scorer of the tournament with 14 goals in just 5 matches with his brilliant piece of game plan. The team received a grand welcome from the authorities and fans. Indian team went on to win the next edition of Olympics also which was held in Los Angeles in 1932. India defeated the host, US .....

Career in Army

13. During this period his rank showed tremendous improvement in less time as he was the super star of Indian hockey team. He was promoted to Lieutenant rank in 1937. In 1951, he was honored by the Indian National hockey by naming a hockey tournament after him as Dhyan Chand tournament. He retired from Indian army in 1956 at the age of 51. He was with the rank of Major at the time of retirement. He had held coaching camps in Rajasthan after his retir .....

Preface

14. You are doubtless aware that I am a common man, and then a soldier. It has been my training from my very childhood to avoid limelight and publicity. I have chosen a profession where I have been taught to be a soldier, and nothing beyond that.I have chosen as my most favourite sport a game, which unlike other sports, has no statisticians or historians in this country. You will, therefore, forgive me if my memoirs have not been chronicled in the co .....

Manushree Chaumal

15. Fifty years ago, India breathed hockey. The India that breathes cricket today, considered hockey as its religion then. What Sachin Tendulkar is to cricket now, Dhyan Chand was to hockey then.Ever since the induction of the sportspersons for nomination to the Bharat Ratna, a massive debate has engaged the nation Who deserves the Bharat Ratna more, batting stalwart Tendulkar or Dhyan Chand? There is no doubt that Tendulkars contribution to Indian .....

Berlin Summer Olympics

16. If anybody asked me which was the best match that I played in, I will unhesitatingly say that it was the 1933 Beighton Cup final between Calcutta Customs and Jhansi Heroes. Calcutta Customs was a great side those days; they had Shaukat Ali, Asad Ali, Claude Deefholts, Seaman, Mohsin, and many others who were then in the first flight of Indian hockey.I had a very young side. Besides my brother Roop Singh, and Ismail, who played for the Great India .....

East African tour and final tournaments

17. After returning from Berlin, Chand joined his regiment. Between 1936 and the commencement of the War in 1939, he largely confined himself to army hockey, with one visit to Kolkata to take part in the Beighton Cup tournament in 1937. After the Beighton Cup, Chand spent four months in a military camp in Pachmarhi to attend military classes. Later, he was promoted to Lieutenant.Towards the closing phases of the war, Chand led an army hockey team whi .....

Autobiography

18. Often situations arise during a game when you are provoked. But you should exercise tolerance and show sportsmanship by putting restraint on your temper, and then the game will go on serenely as if nothing has happened. But if you take one false step, the field becomes an ugly scene. You lose your value both as a player and as a man. .....

Last Moments

19. The last days of Dhyan Chand were not very happy, as he was short of money and 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. He died on the 3rd of December 1979. .....

Death

20. Though having great legacy he died on 3rd December, 1979 in AIIMS, Delhi in a general ward, which is a tough fact to digest. In final days, Dhyan Chand felt sad as he was short of money and was badly ignored by the nation.Two months before he died, Dhyan Chand made a statement that shows his state of mind, When I die, the world will cry, but Indias people will not shed a tear for me, I know them. His autobiography Goal was published by Sport & Pa .....