Hyderabad: India has produced many stars in various sports/games. Be it hockey, badminton, chess, boxing etc, India has seen no less than a world-class player in majority of the fields. However, the bitter truth is that unless a person is a cricketer, no Indian sports star will make it beyond their 15 seconds of fame. Sadly, in India, even a one-match wonder or an IPL hero gets more fame and fortune than an Olympics medal winner.
Being a cricket fanatic country, people in India tend to ignore and forget some of the sporting heroes who deserve their fair share of attention and appreciation.
Take a look at three Indian hockey players who failed to get the due recognition:
Dhyan Chand
Dhyan Singh, popularly known as Dhyan Chand is one of the greatest hockey players that world has ever seen. His skills as a player was such that there was a time when hockey players of rival countries used to complain that Dhyan Chand had some glue on his hockey stick with which he used to control the ball while dribbling.
Over an illustrious 22-year career (1926 to 1948), he scored more than 400 international goals and was conferred with epithets such as “hockey wizard” and “magician of hockey” by European newspapers.
In 1936, Berlin, Indian hockey team went for the Munich Olympics and won by 8-1 score against Germany. After the game, Adolf Hitler invited Dhyan Chand and offered him to join the Germany Army Hockey team. But he refused and replied, “India is my India.”
Chand is most remembered for his goal-scoring feats and for his three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936) in field hockey, while India was dominant in the sport.
However, despite giving his all for the nation, the iconic sportsperson was never conferred with Bharat Ratna award.
Also, due to the ignorance he faced from his own country, the government and the hockey federation, the last days of Dhyan Chand were sad, perhaps bitter. He was so short of money, and was deeply depressed.
In fact, the hockey legend was treated so awfully that two months before he died, Dhyan Chand made a remark that indicated of his state of mind, "When I die, the world will cry, but India's people will not shed a tear for me, I know them."
He died due to Liver Cancer in the general ward of AIIMS on 3 December, 1979.
Roop Singh
Roop Singh, the younger brother of the legendary Dhyan Chand, played as enthralling and mesmerising hockey as his older brother.
Born in 1908, Roop Singh played as inside forward and he participated in two Olympics — 1932 and 1936. However, he was overshadowed by the great Dhyan Chand, so much so, that he almost seems to have faded into the pages of history despite having outscored his more celebrated brother in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
- But, Roop Singh did not have a long and prosperous career in hockey, with the onset of the Second World War and he retired from government service with a paltry pension of Rs 148 per month and led a life of penury thereafter.
Roop Singh passed away in 1977, at the age of 69, in poverty.
At present, his recognition lies only in the form of the Captain Roop Singh Stadium, an arena that was built in 1978 in his hometown of Gwalior. It was originally meant to be a hockey stadium, but was ironically converted to an arena for cricket a decade later.
Dhanraj Pillay
If hockey was cricket, which it sadly isn't, Dhanraj Pillay would've been as revered as much as Virat Kohli. Dhanraj was as aggressive as Kohli on the field, and the way he led the Indian hockey team was not much different from how Kohli is currently leading the Indian cricket team.
Dhanraj was someone who would speak his mind. He may have garnered criticism, but was a magician on the pitch. Pillay had talent, was a born leader and stood up for his players, just like Kohli, but, Dhanraj, unlike Kohli, never got the due recognition and fame that he deserved. In fact, the former Hockey India skipper was never paid his dues by the Indian Hockey federation.
Between 1989 and 2004, Dhanraj represented India in 339 games and scored 170 goals for his country.
- He is the only player in the history of the game to have played four Olympics (1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004), four World Cups (1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002), four Champions Trophies (1995, 1996, 2002, and 2003), and four Asian Games (1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002).
Under his captaincy India won the 1998 Asian Games and 2003 Asia Cup.
Despite giving his blood, sweat, and tears to the country, Dhanraj was ill-treated during his last days as a hockey player.
- During his last game at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Dhanraj was taken off after just 98 seconds, which obviously came as a shock for all the fans watching to catch a last glimpse of the man who had carried Indian hockey for so many years.
The incident was so disheartening for Dhanraj that he teared up mid-interview after the game. In his mind, they did it to humiliate him because he spoke up against the federation and that they wanted him to remember the moment forever. Sadly, he still carries the memory. They retired him before he could do it himself.
Had a player of this stature represented any other nation like Australia, or Germany, they would have struck gold at almost every tournament this man was involved. Hence, it won’t be wrong to say that Dhanraj was under treated by the Indian hockey federation and he deserves much better.
