Hockey India welcomes Ministry’s recommendation

Says Dhyan Chand most deserving for Bharat Ratna

Hockey India has welcomed the decision of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to recommend the name of hockey legend Dhyan Chand for the Bharat Ratna award. In an earlier letter addressed to Sports Minister Ajay Maken, Hockey India, while welcoming the modification of rules for paving the way for eligibility of sportspersons for Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the country, had strongly recommended that Major Dhyan Chand be conferred this coveted award.

The late Dhyan Chand was acknowledged as the all-time great hockey player in the world, and he had generated many myths about his ability as a hockey player. “In view of his rarest of rare achievements, there is no better deserving sporting icon other than Major Dhyan Chand to be considered for the Bharat Ratna,” Hockey India said here Wednesday.

He won three successive gold medals in the Olympic Games at Amsterdam (1928), Los Angles (1932) and Berlin (1936), and was the first Indian sportsman to be conferred the honour of his birthday, August 29, as the National Sports Day, when the President of India gives away the national sports awards such as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Awards to eminent present and past sports persons.

As a tribute to Dhyan Chand, the National Stadium was re-named after his name in 2002. Even today, Major Dhyan Chand remains legendary in India and in the world, and is credited with scoring over 1000 international goals. His international playing career started in 1926 and he went on to play till 1948 when he was 42. In 1926, on his first International tour, India played 21 Matches in New Zealand scoring 192 Goals, with Dhyan Chand alone accounting for 100 goals.

Under Dhyan Chand’s captaincy at the Berlin Olympics, his magical stick-work drew the crowds from other venues to the hockey stadium. Posters sprung up all over the city saying “Visit the Hockey Stadium to watch the Indian Magician Major Dhyan Chand in action”.

He was even offered German citizenship and the rank of Colonel in the German Army by Hitler, which he declined. The German Authorities also broke his stick to check if there was a magnet inside. Hockey India is hopeful that the Government will award Bharat Ratna to the hockey legend.