| Date of Birth: | Aug 29th 1905 |
| Birth Place: | Allahabad |
| Home Town: | Jhansi |
| Major Teams: | Army, India |
| Debut For India: | 1926 |
| Olympic Gold Medals: | 3 |
Dhayan Chand - Such was the awe of Dhayan Chand that in a Vienna sports club, they installed a statue of Dhyan Chand with four arms and four sticks. Dhyan Chand was so charismatic in the hockey field that everyone around the world doubted if his stick was made of something else other than wood! You would be surprised to know what all they did to his hockey sticks. In Holland Dhyan Chand's stick was broken to see if there was a magnet inside; in Japan they thought that it was glue; and Adolf Hitler even offered to buy it!Achievements and Accolades
Players like Dhyanchand become a synonym of the game; he is not a hero; he has become the parameter of hockey by which other player's caliber is measured. It is surprising to know that Dhyan Chand, who came to be known as hockey's magician, started playing hockey only after joining the army! Dhyanchand took to playing hockey in army and was included in the Indian Hockey team for the 1926 New Zealand tour.
Turning Point
Dhyanchand joined the army at the age of 16 and this proved a turning point of his carrier. It was from there that Dhyan Chand started playing hockey. After that Dhyanchand rose in the hockey field like a meteor. This became an important milestone of his carrier.
Early Promise
As soon as Dhyan Chand joined the army, his tryst with hockey began. After that there was no looking back for this magician of Indian hockey, popularly known as hockey's jadoogar. His exciting stick-work encouraged the army to allow him to concentrate on the game. Dhyan Chand took part in the inter-provincial hockey championship and made an immediate impact on the national hockey scene. From the very outset Dhyan Chand showed a lot of promise and the day was not far away when he joined the ranks of the Indian hockey.
Dhyan Chand Biography
Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August, 1905 at Allahabad. His father was in the British Indian army. Dhyan Chandspent most of his early time at Jhansi. At the age of 16 Dhyan Chand joined the army and took to serious hockey. In the year 1926, he was selected for the Indian hockey team slated to tour New Zealand. Thereafter, Dhyan Chand played a monumental role in India winning 3 successive Olympic hockey gold medals (in 1928, 1932 and 1936).
In the year 1934, Dhyan Chand was appointed the captain of the Indian hockey and subsequently captained the gold winning team at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. At the Berlin Olympics, Hitler was so impressed with his play that he offered to make him colonel in the German army, if he agreed to play for Germany. At the age of 43, he led the hockey team to the tour of East Africa in 1947. In this tour Dhyan Chand scored 61 goals in 21 matches that India played. After an illustrious carrier of 30 years, Dhyan Chand bid adieu to international hockey in 1949. He retired as Major and was also the Chief Hockey Coach at the National Institute of Sports. For his extraordinary achievements, the Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhusan in 1956. Throughout his carrier, Dhyan Chand scored more than 1000 goals. On Dec 3, 1979 this hockey legend passed away.
Ups And Downs
Once Dhyan Chand started playing hockey, there was no looking back for him. In fact, he went on scaling great heights in hockey and achieved great feats. Dhyan Chand rose in international hockey like a meteor and kept shining like the Sun. Soon Dhyan Chand became folklore. Such was the charisma of this legend that people thought that he had some magic in his hockey sticks. Dhyan Chand's name became synonymous with hockey. So great was the standard of his hockey that he never had any lean patches in his playing carrier.
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