Hyderabad: Dhyan Chand, is regarded by many as one of the best players to have played the game of hockey and was fondly called the Hockey Wizard. To commemorate the birth anniversary of 'The Wizard', hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, the Government of India decided to celebrate August 29 as the country's National Sports Day.
This year (2020) is the 115th birth anniversary of the hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
On this day every year, the President of India confers all the sports-related awards like the Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award to honour sportspersons and coaches who have made the nation proud in their respective sport.
The 2020 National Sports Awards will be held via video conferencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The awards are usually presented by the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The magical striker used to leave the defenders clueless while scoring goals exquisitely. Chand played a key role in India winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals in hockey at 1928, 1932 and 1936. Dhyan Chand scored over 400 goals in his career spanning 22 years.
Here are 5 interesting facts about the iconic player that every Indian must know:
Love for wrestling
Dhyan Chand, who was born in Allahabad, had two brothers. As his father was in the British Indian army, his family used to move from one city to another. Thus he could manage only six years of schooling wherein he started playing wrestling, although as a youngster he was not much inclined towards other sports.
Army at the age of 16
Dhyan Chand's father was employed in the British Indian Army and he followed the suite by joining the Indian Army at the tender age of 16. It was here that he took up hockey. Dhyan Chand got so dedicated towards hockey that he started to practice at night, due to which he was nicknamed 'Chand' which means Moon by his peers.
The Wizard
Dhyan Chand's concentration and dedication towards hockey was such that after he failed to score a goal in a match, he appealed with the match referee that the measurements of goal post were wrong. When the match referee checked the measurement, the goal post was found to be in contravention of the official minimum width prescribed under international rules and thus Dhyan Chand was correct.
Dhyan Chand and Adolf Hitler
During the 1936 Berlin Olympic final, Dhyan Chand top-scored with three goals and the Indians won easily by defeating Germany 8-1. Impressed with the extraordinary performance of Dhyan Chand, German dictator Adolf Hitler offered him German citizenship and Colonel Post in the German Army. However, the Indian magician declined the offer.
1932 Los Angeles Olympics
Dhyan Chand got direct entry in the Indian hockey team for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics whereas the rest of the players had to play the Inter-Provincial tournaments to secure a place. Dhyan Chand led Indian team kick-started the event by thrashing Japan 11-1. India went on to win other matches before triumphing in the finals to clinch the gold yet again.
After the Olympics, the team went on an international tour covering the United States, England and several other countries. By the end of the tour, India had won 34 matches out of 37 with Chand scoring 133 of the 338 goals scored by India.
