29th August, 2009: You may wonder what is the speciality of making an entry with the topic as the date. But, those who are unfamiliar with this date, should feel pity on themselves of being unknown of the importance of the day.
This day is commonly known as the National Sports Day in India. Now, many people will think that what is so great about this day. And being the National Sports Day, there must be many sports and games being played all over the country in the schools, colleges etc.
But, almost all will be unknown of the fact the this day is the Birthday of the Wonderman of Hockey Major Dhyan Chand. He was born on 29th August 1905.
He was the legendary hockey player and played at the Cenral Forward of the Indian National Team. He is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players till date.
He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1956 which is the third highest Civilian Honor in the country.
He was primarily known as Major Dhyan Singh but he was then awarded with a title of Chand (or MOON) by his coach, who was impressed by his extra ordinary skills with the Hockey Stick.
He won 3 Olympic Golds for India in 1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin.
After his mesmerizing performance at the Berlin Olympics, legend has it that after seeing him play , the then dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler offered Dhyan Chand, a Major in the British Indian Army, German citizenship and a higher army post. But the true patriot, the prolific striker politely turned his offer down.
He was admired and feared by his opponents, who felt that the ball got stuck to his stick when he played. Many times during the play his stick was objected and was checked by the opponents and officials who suspected that it contained some illegal stuff that caused the ball to adher with the stick, but all in vain. They found nothing. It was the magic of Dhyan Chand, his extra ordinary skills with the piece of timber, that caused the ball to move as he desired, on the turf.
Residents of Vienna, Austria honoured him by setting up a statue of him with four hands and four sticks, depicting his control and mastery over the ball.
One of his famous statues stands at the National Stadium in New Delhi near the India Gate. The National Stadium was an honor to the legendary player who died finally in 1979.
