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.
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 down permanently at Jhansi.
Dhyan Chand had to quit studies when he was in class six due to his father`s frequent transfer in the Army job. Although he had no such interest towards any form of sports, he liked wrestling. He joined the Indian Army in the year 1922 when he was only sixteen years old. There, in the Indian Army one Subedar-Major Bale Tiwari formed the mentor of Dhyan Chand and made the strong foundation of Chand towards his perspective hockey career. Between the years from 1922 to 1926, Dhyan Chand Singh played exclusively in the regimental games and the army hockey tournaments. He finally secured a place in the Indian Army team which was scheduled to tour New Zealand. The Indian Army hockey team won eighteen matches; lost only one and drew two and thus received the praises of all the spectators. When the team returned India, Dhyan Chand immediately got a promotion and became a Lance Naik in the army.
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 promoted to the post of Lance Nayak in the Army. At the London Folkstone Festival in 1927, he scored 36 goals out of India’s total 72 goals, in 10 matches played at the event.
He played for the Indian Hockey team in the Amsterdam Olympic Games 1928, and scored 2 out of the 3 goals in the final match against Netherlands, getting India the Gold Medal by a 3-0 win. In the Los Angeles Olympics 1932, the Indian team led by Lal Shah Bukhari again won the Gold Medal. In the tournament, the Indian Hockey team defeated the USA Hockey team by 23-1, which remained a world record until it was broken in the year 2003. Out of these 23 goals, 8 were scored alone by Dhyan Chand. In the event, Dhyan Chand scored 12 goals for India in 2 matches.
In the Berlin Olympics 1932, Indian had successfully treaded their path to the finals crushing Hungary by 4-0, USA by 7-0 and Japan 9-0 without conceding a single goal in the tournament. The team defeated France in the Semi-Finals by 10 goals, and was going to combat Germany in the Finals. In the Final match, the Indian squad could score only 1 goal till the interval. Dhyan Chand removed his shoes in the interval and played the match barefooted onwards. The Indian team won the match and the Gold medal by 8-1.
Adolf Hitler, the German dictator supposedly offered Dhyan Chand a higher post in the German Army than the one he was holding in the Indian Army, but he politely denied the offer.
He kept playing till the age of 42 years, and retired from the game in the year 1948. Dhyan Chand met Don Bradman, the Cricket Maestro at Adelaide in the year 1935. After watching him play Hockey, Bradman commented “He scores goals like runs in Cricket.”
Achievements of Dhyan Chand
In 1926, Dhyan Chand Singh was included in the Indian Hockey team for the New Zealand tour. In a match at Dannkerke, the team scored twenty goals and Chand scored ten goals alone. India played twenty one matches in the New Zealand tour, and from that they won eighteen, drew two and lost only one match. A total of 192 goals were scored by the team and Dhyan Chand Singh scored more than 100 goals alone. After Chand`s return to India, he got a promotion and became Lance Nayak in the Army. In the year 1927, at the London Folkstone Festival, Chand scored a total of thirty six goals out of the total seventy two goals scored by India, in ten matches.
Dhyan Chand played in the hockey team of India in the Amsterdam Olympic Games in the year 1928, and he scored two from the three goals scored in the final game against Netherlands, and thus bagging the Gold Medal for Indian by a 3-0 win. In the year 1932, in the Los Angeles Olympics, Lal Shah Bukhari led the Indian hockey team to win the Gold Medal. In this Olympic, the hockey team of India defeated the United States of America hockey team by 23-1, which stayed as a world record until the same was broken in 2003. Dhyan Chand scored 8 goals from among the 23 goals in that match. In the entire event, Chand scored in two matched a total of twelve goals.
The Indian hockey team went to the finals of the Berlin Olympics in the year 1932, by defeating Hungary by 4-0, the United States of America by 7-0 and Japan by 9-0 without letting the opposition to score a single goal against them. In the Semi-Finals they beat France by ten goals, and got themselves ready play in the final against Germany. They scored only one goal till interval in the final match and Dhyan Chand then played bare-footed after the interval and India won the final match along with the Olympic Gold Medal by 8-1. The great German dictator Adolf Hitler, purportedly offered Chand a higher designation in the German Army if he became a German resident, to which Chand denied politely.
Major Dhyan Chand Singh continued playing hockey till he attained the age of 42 years, and then he retired from hockey in the year 1948. Chand once met the great cricketer Don Bradman, at Adelaide in 1935. After watching the game of Dhyan Chand, Bradman commented "He scores goals like runs in Cricket."
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