Much awaited ‘Indian Hockey Olympians’ hits the stands.

There has been a need in India for a reference source for Indian Olympic hockey players. An authentic and informative work on Indian hockey Olympians is a long felt need. Absence of which often is surprising considering the fact that the game has been in the public domain ever since it struck gold in 1928.

‘Profiles of Indian Hockey Olympians’, a 226-page volume, with rare vintage images, fulfills the vacuum.

Author K. Arumugam has in a record time penned and produced the work, which was thoughtfully and thankfully released on the same function in which Hockey India presented purse to Indian hockey gold medalists.

Sports Minister Ajay Maken and former Law Minister Arun Jaitely jointly released the book amidst the galaxy of former Olympians and the London bound Indian team.

The book, which has the 1948 Olympic gold winning team on the cover, is hard bound, gives life and times of about 210 Olympians that India produced so far.

However, the first chapter is devoted to our London Indian team, it is entitled ‘LONDON LIONS’. Here all the 18 players who are now on a mission to Europe are profiled.

The second chapter is ‘INDIAN OLYMPIC PLAYERS AND TEAMS’.

Here, the list of Olympians with their year of participation and edition-wise Olympic team is presented. What needs to understand here is, the list is scrutinized and maximum care taken to remove some myths associated with the colonial Olympic teams. For example, Nawab of Pataudi Sr. name does not figure here unlike in many Indian publications.

The Third Chapter ‘GOLDEN ERA’ is the result of long years of research, which deals each and every player who figured in the Olympics from 1928 to 1932, the colonial era.

This is followed by ‘FREE INDIA’S FIRST HEROES which accounts Olympic players from 1948 to 1972, a spell in which India always returned with a medal at the Olympics.

The last chapter is STARS OF SYNTHETIC ERA’. This is exhaustive work of last 36 years of Olympics.

The book also has many hitherto unknown images of players.

To be information-friendly, list of tournaments played by some Olympians are also listed as the book progresses from conservative colonial era to extensively competitive modern era.

The book was brought out in short time, and was supported by Hockey India, who procured substantial number of copies, making the work economically viable. Copies were distributed on 24th June during Good Luck India Function in New Delhi.

HOW TO GET COPIES: Send a cheque or draft for Rs.880 (includes courier charge of Rs.100) drawn in favour of Hockey Features, and post it to Hockey Features, J-1/31, Flat D2, Khirki Extension, New Delhi – 110 017.

Or deposit Rs.880 in Syndicate Bank, Malviya Nagar Branch, Account Name: Hockey Features, Account No. 90821010004026, IFSC No. SYNB0009094.

The book will reach in 3 days time. For other queries write to hockeybook@gmail.com.