Century Snapshots 1928

The golden era of Indian hockeyquot;The Indian ball seems ignorant of the laws of gravity. One of those tanned diabolical jugglers stare...

The golden era of Indian hockey

quot;The Indian ball seems ignorant of the laws of gravity. One of those tanned diabolical jugglers stares at the ball intently: it gets upright and remains suspended in the air8230; This is no longer the game of hockey. It is a juggling turn. It is splendid.quot; a Dutch journalist after India8217;s gold medal win in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Wills Book of Excellence: HockeyINDIA established themselves as the unchallenged leaders of the hockey world with an unbroken series of victories in the Olympic Games, from their debut in 1928 to 1956. Of the eight Olympic hockey gold medals India won in this century, six came in what is known as the Golden Era8217; of Indian hockey.

The Indians were an unknown quantity in Amsterdam, not having participated in the London 1908 and Antwerp 1920 Games, the only time hockey was played as a competitive sport in the Olympics, prior to Amsterdam.

The first national selection was made after trials at Calcutta, though three players, who werein England that time, were chosen on reputation instead of current form: Jaipal Singh and Nawab of Pataudi of Oxford and S.M. Yusuf of Cambridge.

Nine teams were split into two groups. India stunned everyone beating Austria 6-0, Belgium 9-0, Denmark 5-0 and Switzerland 6-0 to make the final against Holland. Eric Pinniger led India to a 3-0 win The player to catch the fancy of the spectators and world Press was Dhyan Chand, who was later given the sobriquet, The Wizard8217;.

After the 1928 win, the words Dhyan Chand were emblazoned in letters of gold on the No.9 India jersey. He never faced selection trials again. A protege of Bal Tewari, Chand led India in the Berlin Games in 1936, after the second consecutive gold in the Los Angeles Games 1932. The Indians were surprised by a German XI in warm-up and Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara was sent as an additional player. India took the gold thrashing Germany 8-1 in the final.

Dara later wrote about Dhyan Chand: quot;Juggler, magician, wizard. Whatever he was called, therewas no doubt that this lightly-built hockey genius was a giant among players.quot;

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The other three medals in that golden string came in the post-war era in London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. It was Melbourne which showed how close Pakistan had come to breaking the myth of India8217;s invincibility. After Pakistan took Asian Games gold in Tokyo 1958 and dethroned India from the Olympic pedestal in Rome 1960, coach Habul Mukherjee, quot;the elaichi and supari-paan manquot; helped retain gold in 1964.

Then followed the fall from grace as India soon slipped to third, and then seventh and then way below. They did manage to stem the rot with a gold at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and there was a moment to cherish in between: the World Cup victory in 1975 by Ajitpal Singh8217;s men at Kuala Lumpur. While India struggled through the 8217;80s and 8217;90s, the Bangkok Asian Games gold, coming after 32 years, provided the bright spark at the end of the millennium.