Mumbai: The country celebrates National Sports Day on August 29 which is the birthday of hockey legend Dhyan Chand.

At the Mahindra Hockey Association on Friday there will be some celebration during the final of the inter-academies tournament. But one
Mumbaikar will be missing — one who played against him. It’s 77-year-old Ameeruddin Siddiqui, whose health doesn’t permit travelling all the way from his home in Borivli.

Siddiqui was a star forward of Western Railway and played 16 Nationals either for Railways or the then Bombay. His five sons have also played the sport. But for antagonising hockey administrator-to-be Jimmy Nagarvala during his playing days, Siddiqui may have played for the country.

When 21, Siddiqui says he played for a Rest of India XI against an India XI led by Dhyan Chand. He remembers that game clearly: “India XI beat us 2-1. I scored my team’s lone goal. Dhyan Chand scored one of their two goals. Dhyan Chand would play centre-forward, his brother Roop Singh at inside-left.

“They would give “chakma’’ (the slip) to the defenders, make monkeys of them. If Dhyan Chand had the ball inside the ‘D’ 99 per cent it had to be a goal. One can’t say that about any other player of any country or any era.’’

Siddiqui also remembers another encounter with the legend who had turned coach.”Once I played for Western against an army side of which Dhyan Chand was the coach. He had seen me hit a couple of shots away from goal. At half time he called me, took my stick told me to turn my back and hit him on the bottom in a good-natured way. Then he took me aside and showed me how to execute the shot for goal. And sure enough I put his advice to good use in the second half earning his approval.’’

Siddiqui also had praise for Ashok Kumar one of Dhyan Chand’s sons who he said was a very good player. “Ashok played in an era when people had begun analysing the sport and it had become tougher to score goals.’’

So what made Dhyan Chand great? From what one had heard from senior players Dhyan Chand’s secret lay in making the game look easy. He didn’t have great speed. In midfield they say he was on the slow side. But what made him great was spotting the gap before it was there and once he found it he could outwit his opponents in no time.

A sports club in Vienna built his statue with four hands and four sticks, like a diety. No man with two hands and one stick could play so well. His stickwork was incredible, his running into position even without a ball was greater menace, making it impossible to mark him even by using two or three players.

They tried to film him but his stickwork was too fast for the camera. In the 1928 Olympics, Dhyan Chand’s jersey No 9 became famous. Dhyan Chand became a legend in his lifetime.

Hundreds tried to catch his style from watching his films. But there has been no replica of the hero. He was a giant among players.

THE LEGEND

Dhyan Chand was to Indian hockey what WG Grace and Sir Don Bradman were to cricket, Big Bill Tilden to tennis, Pele to football, Jack Johnson to boxing and Walter Lindrum to billiards. He scored 33 goals in three Olympics __ 1928, 1932 and 1936. He scored 10, in the first, 12 in the second and 11 in the last.