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Former and present hockey gamers got here collectively to demand Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award, for the legendary Major Dhyan Chand, every week forward of his 115th delivery anniversary. With National Sports Day approaching, greats comparable to Gurbux Singh, Harbinder Singh, Ashok Kumar and present participant Yuvraj Walmiki took half in a digital dialogue on Saturday to have a good time the life and profession of the enduring participant. National Sports Day is well known on August 29, on the delivery anniversary of Dhyan Chand.
The dialogue was a part of a digital marketing campaign which was launched by former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, actors Babushaan Mohanty and Rachel White final yr to demand ‘Bharat Ratna’ for Major Dhyan Chand.
“For us Dhyan Chand was God. We were lucky to travel with him to East Africa and Europe for a month-long tour. It is difficult to find such a nice man and a great player. He was the most complete player ever born,” mentioned Gurbux Singh, an Arjuna awardee.
The 85-year-old additionally shared his expertise of being part of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
“We had lost gold in 1960, so we wanted to get it back. After winning the gold for India, I had tears in my eyes while seeing the tri-colour go up slowly with the national anthem being played in the background. It really made me feel proud of doing something for India,” he mentioned.
Talking about Dhyan Chand, Harbinder Singh mentioned, “I have a lot of regards for ‘Dada’.
I had a best timing of 10.8 in 100m, so I had advantage of speed. He told me that I should keep the ball in front of me as it will help in pick up but I should have control.
I practised on it and took it as ‘guru mantra’.” Arjuna awardee and Dhayn Chand’s son, Ashok Kumar additionally shared some unknown info about his father.
“He used to stop me and my elder brother from playing hockey. The reason for which we later realised was that he worried about the lack of financial incentives in the sport,” Ashok mentioned.
He additionally narrated anecdotes from the ultimate match of Berlin Olympics 1936 that India received. “It was raining heavily for which the final match got postponed to August 15, 1936. In the first half, India had scored only one goal, which was quite easy for the opponent to defeat,” Ashok mentioned.
“Before the second half of the match, Major Dhyan Chand and Legendary Player Roop Singh removed their shoes and played barefoot for 35 minutes to get the control of the ground both of them scored seven goals.
“By the time the match resulted in Berlin, the stadium was empty as India defeated Germany with a rating of 8-1 in entrance of Hitler.”
Talking about the influence of Dhyan Chand, Valmiki, who played in German League for eight years, said: “Hockey in India is the same as Major Dhyan Chand. Even after 100 years it is going to be the identical, it’s the best delight for me. When I performed in Germany, each particular person used to inform me that I come from the land of Major Dhyan Chand.”
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The Tokyo Olympics have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Harbinder said it will affect India’s momentum.
“Had the Olympic not been postponed as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic, India would definitely be medal contenders. Now nevertheless, the momentum has gone. Am uncertain about how India will fare subsequent yr,” he mentioned.
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