From ancient India period onwards, games and sports have been very popular. For example, we all know archery had a special place in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata period. We have read in our childhood that Ekalavya had been endowed with this great skill indirectly learnt from Acharya Drona and had to surrender his right thumb to his Guru Drona as desired by his Guru. I will not go for any controversy here. We know Ball badminton, traditional village games ‘HaDoDo’, etc. have originated from India.
As a senior citizen and retired Professor, still games and sports are my favourite as I played hockey at national level. Subsequently, when I joined college in teaching faculty later on as an academician in an academic Institute of the Government of India, I used to play few games and also sprinter. Even in Eritrea (an African country) while I was in university level teaching, I used to play volleyball with students. I am informing here about myself with the objective of motivating our youths, students, researchers, academicians and others to continue study vis-à-vis games and sports as liked by individuals.
The Government of India was not shy to encourage games and sports and rightly decided to celebrate National Sports Day in 2012 and specifically on 29 August as on 29 August 1905, a great personality and legendary figure in hockey, Dhyan Chand was born in Allahabad. At a young age, Dhyan Chand joined the British Indian army and was a great sports person. He was instrumental in India’s hat-trick of gold medals in the years 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics and known as ‘the magician or the wizard of hockey’, mainly because of his skills with the hockey stick. According to a report, Dhyan Chand played internationally from 1926 to 1949 and scored 570 goals in 185 matches. It may be mentioned here that he was discovered by the British Indian Army as a great hockey player, as there was a tour to New Zealand in 1926. He was highly appreciated in his first match of the tournament as his performance was commendable.
According to him, his best match was the Beighton Cup final in 1933held in then Calcutta now Kolkata and his team, the Jhansi Heroes, won the Beighton Cup. In his own words, “If anybody asked me which was the best match that I played, I will unhesitatingly say that it was the 1933 Beighton Cup final between Calcutta Customs and Jhansi Heroes. Calcutta Customs was a great side in those days….……It was a great match, full of thrills, and it was just opportunism that gave us the victory” (wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhyan_Chand)
In 1956, the Government of India awarded him Padma Bhushan. And in 1980, the Government of India issued a commemorative postage stamp. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 August 2021 announced that the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest sporting honour, will be renamed after great Olympian Major Dhyan Chand. It is pertinent to mention here that this year (2021) Indians are happy because Indians in Tokyo Olympics registered its best-ever finish, winning seven medals including one gold medal.
On the occasion of Dhyan Chand’s birthday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah through Twitter has paid his respect, “With his dedication and achievements, Major Dhyan Chand gave Indian Hockey a new identity. His passion and determination to bring glory to India, despite facing a lack of basic resources, shall always inspire us,” (The Hindustan Times, 29/8/21).
Although he passed away on 3 December 1979, he is still in our hearts and also will be in the hearts of all generations after generations.
Dr. Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad Dt 29 August 2021
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