HOCKEY.

[munnamallick]

"Why our hockey players are being treated like orphans and why our politicians are biased against hockey, the national game?" Carvalho asked.
Most of us in India must have read this on News paper of 28th September 2007. This is the anguish expressed by present Indian coach of hockey team, Joaquim Carvalho after several awards were declared for Indian cricket team after their 20-20 World cup win where as everybody conveniently forgot Indian hockey team which had won Asia cup a couple of weeks before. In fact no awards were announced when hockey team won the Asia cup on 9th September 2007.
And on 30th September 2007, when Viswanatham Anand won the chess world cup in Mexico City, he too was not expecting much from Indian public and politician. Read the Newspaper clip below. This is what Anand had said after winning the world cup.


But, I must say Anand was lucky. First came the declaration of cash award of Rs25 lakh and then a hero welcome when he arrived in India. See this photo and read the news clip.

THE MONARCH: On a bedecked chariot, with a crown and mace, World champion Viswanathan Anand is king indeed.
Chennai: Viswanathan Anand is seldom at a loss for words, but the World chess champion was stunned at the reception he received in his home city.
But not so lucky are Indian hockey team captain of Asia cup Prabodh Tirkey and the former captain Dilip Tirkey. Unfortunately both of them belong to my state orissa. I have not heard of my state government declaring any award for them. Shame! Crying shame!
Shame on Indian sports lovers. Shame on Indian public, media, central government and state governments. We have forgotten our National game, our past and sporting glories. If anybody knows about Indian sports it is because of hockey. Eight gold medals in Olympics spanning from 1928 to 1980 is not a joke.
Let us make a journey through that glorious past. Yes, my Indian friends, a nation who does not respect its past does get respect for its present too. Now hold on your breathe and read on.
AMSTERDAM-1928
The ten-day hockey competition in the Amsterdam Games was held in May, two months before the rest of the Olympic events. India made its debut in the Olympic Games on May 17, 1928, beating Austria 6-0. India went on to beat Belgium 9-0, Denmark 5-0 and Switzerland 6-0 in the semi-finals to set up the title clash against Holland.
Jaipal Singh, a student of Oxford University, captained India only till the semi-finals before he had to go back to England. Vice Captain Eric Pinniger then took over the captaincy for the final against Holland.
The finals, held on May 26, 1928, aroused tremendous interest. Nearly 24,000 spectators, till then the biggest crowd for a hockey match, saw the game. India beat Holland 3 - 0 to win its first ever Olympic gold medal, and its first ever victory in a world tournament. On May 29, when the prize giving ceremony was held at the Olympic Stadium, and Eric Pinniger lead the team to the victory stand, this marked the first time that a team from Asia had won any medal in the Olympics.
LOS ANGELS-1932
The 1932 Olympic hockey matches spawned a couple of records that stand till this date. The biggest score in an international hockey match is the 24-1 victory of India over the USA, played on August 11, 1932. The record for the most number of goals scored in a single hockey match belongs to Roop Singh, who slammed in ten goals in the 24-1 rout of USA.
So how did USA score that one goal? The backs had decided to let the Americans have a run, but when they looked behind, there was no goalkeeper. The Indian goalkeeper Richard Allen was signing autographs behind the goal post!
The finest tribute to the Indian hockey team was by the Los Angeles sports journalists who voted the team's showing in the Olympics as "the most outstanding exhibition of skill in any sport."
25 out of the 35 goals scored by India in the 1932 Olympics were by the two brothers - left-in Roop Singh (15) and centre-forward Dhyan Chand (10). The hockey brothers went on to represent India in the 1936 Olympics also, winning yet another gold medal for India.
BERLIN-1936 India met Germany in the final on August 15, 1936. The final started at 11:00 am before a record crowd of 40,000 spectators, the biggest ever to witness a hockey match in the Olympic Games. India was up by 6 goals in the finals. The Germans now decided to play rough. Going for Dhyan Chand, the German goalkeeper removed one of his teeth. Coming back after receiving first aid, the bare-footed Dhyan Chand instructed his team to go easy on goals. "We must teach them a lesson in ball control," he said. As the stunned crowd watched, the Indians repeatedly took the ball up to the German circle and then backpassed to dumbfound their opponents. India ultimately prevailed over Germany 8-1 in the finals to win its third successive Olympic gold medal.
The Fuhrer was very impressed by Dhyan Chand's performance in the finals. At a dinner party after the finals, Hitler offered to elevate Dhyan Chand to the rank of a Colonel if he migrated to Germany. Dhyan Chand turned down the offer.
This was to be the last Olympics of 'Hockey Wizard' Dhyan Chand. World War II intervened to prevent any more Olympic appearances of the hockey immortal. Dhyan Chand is to hockey what Bradman is to cricket and Pele is to soccer. Dhyan Chand scored over a thousand goals in a career spanning 1926 - 1948.
The ultimate tribute was paid to him by a sports club in Vienna, which built a statue of Dhyan Chand with four hands and four sticks. To those Viennese, no ordinary man with two hands and one stick could have played so well. Every age produces its own genius. But the only hockey wizard of the 20th Century has been Major Dhyan Chand, the king among centre-forwards.
LONDON-1948
The first time that India met Britain in an Olympic hockey match was on September 12, 1948, at Wembley grounds, in the Olympic hockey final. In this long awaited meeting, India beat Britain 4-0 in to win its fourth consecutive gold medal - its first as a free country. Balbir Singh Sr. (Punjab Police) was the find of independent India as a centre-forward. He scored both the first half goals for India, while Pat Jansen and Trilochan Singh (penalty corner) shared the other two.
HELSINKI-1952
India beat Austria 4-0 and Great Britain 3-1 in the knockout matches en route to the finals. Holland challenged the Olympics champions but lost 1-6, and India won the hockey crown for the 5th time in a row.
MELBOURNE-1956
India clashed with Pakistan for the first time since the partition of India. Midway through the second half, India was awarded a penalty corner. The ball was pushed out by Udham Singh and stopped by Raghbir Singh Bhola. Randhir Singh Gentle took the shot. A Pakistani defender failed to trap it cleanly and allowed the ball to trickle over the goal line. And so India secured the gold medal for the sixth time in a row, until then a record for any country in any team sport in the Olympics.
TOKYO-1964In the pool matches, India finished at the top with 12 points. India beat Belgium 2-0, was held to a draw by Germany and Spain, beat Hong Kong 6-0, Malaysia 3-1, Canada 3-0 and Holland 2-1. In the semi-final, India beat Australia 3-1 to set up their third consecutive clash with Pakistan in the Olympic finals. India beat Pakistan 1-0 in the final.
MOSCOW-1980In the final against Spain, India had a rousing start and established a comfortable three goal lead early in the second half. But Spain gamely bounced back into the game with 2 unanswered goals. With Spain raiding the Indian defense, and with only 6 minutes left, Mohammed Shaheed scored a goal to give more breathing room to India. However, with only 4 minutes remaining, Spain scored yet again with their skipper Juan Amat completing his hat-trick. The atmosphere in the last few minutes was electric, and India finally won the thriller 4-3, and thus regained the elusive gold after 16 long years. Spain had to be content with the Fairplay Trophy.
Sadly, there ends the golden run of Indian hockey in the Olympics. 27 years of draught! 27years of expectations!! Slowly and surely dying down!!! Can it be revived???


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