New book reprises Dhyan Chand’s legend

Of all the famous sportsmen that India’s armed forces have produced, a special coffee table book appropriately titled Soldiering On and brought ou
t on the occasion of the centenary of the Sainik Samachar, known as Fauji Akhbar at its birth in 1909, has chosen to highlight Dhyan Chand. And which sportsperson will disagree with the choice?

Archival photographs of the hockey wizard and his Olympic gold medal-winning team of 1936, in old-fashioned knee-length shorts, share a page with Fl. Lt. Shailendra Eknath Sukhthankar, the first Indian Royal Air Force officer to win a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross).

Even in times when Indian hockey has fallen on lean days, it would be blasphemy to deny Dhyan Chand his due in putting the country on the world sports map, or to think of taking the ‘national game’ tag away from it. A Dhyan Chand is born once in a century.

Quoting in a terse matter-of-fact style from the Fauji Akhbar of December 19, 1936, the book recalls the feat of the Indian team at the Berlin Olympics. India again proved herself invincible. In five matches the Indian team scored 38 goals, while only one was scored against them by Germany in the final.

The team was captained by Naik Dhyan Chand of 2/14 Punjab Regiment, who represented the country in three Olympic tournaments and who is undoubtedly the finest exponent of the game.