When we think of cricket, it is Don Bradman, tennis Roger Federer and in the same vein hockey resonates with the name of Dhyan Chand.?
The man had nearly 200 goals for India and was in 3 Olympic gold medal-winning teams. In 1936 after Germany were decimated 8-1 in the final, Adolf Hitler offered him a senior post in the army, to which he had to decline.
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He played for India between 1926 to 1949 and was often called The Wizard or The Magician. It was true, when he had the ball on his stick, it was sheer artistry at its best. It seemed like his bat was a magnet and attracted the ball to it at all times. Be as it may, he was a nightmare for the opposition.?
Born into a Rajput family, hockey was like the sport of the house. No wonder that the man who would soon be a legend would take up the game in the future.? Now while his real name was Dhyan Singh, he used to practice in the moonlight as their were no floodlights back then. Thus his fellow players gave him the name Chand. Henceforth he was known as Dhyan Chand.?
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He was part of our first ever hockey gold in 1928. We would go on to win 7 more out of which he would be involved in two. But the legacy he had set would take us far in the game.?
In 1956 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. His birthday, August 29, is celebrated as National Sports Day.?
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But sadly this hero did not have a good life in his latter years. He was not provided proper help from the government or the hockey federation. He lived in poverty and mostly by himself in his later years.?
He died in 1979, pretty much a forgotten man, something he was aware of and always lamented. While he was honoured after his death, the very country he put on the hockey map pretty much let him fade away into oblivion in his dying years. Not the best way to treat a legend.