In school, we had lessons on “Dhyan Chand”, considered as India’s greatest hockey players of all times and one of the World’s greatest. During those times, the game used to be played on grass where a lot of flair, elegance and skills were required. I have watched some outstanding hockey players play though this was in later years when synthetic turf was introduced. By then, the game had evolved and had become much faster and more technical. Those who have watched the game in that era will not forget the name of one player, Mohammad Shahid, who used to be extremely impressive. On the field, he was like a magician who could dribble past three and four opponent players with ease. A name to reckon with in the World and an extremely graceful player who would score a lot of goals or make the dazzling runs followed by that exquisite defence splitting pass. Then there was Zafar Iqbal who had amazing class and speed and a few other names which I can recollect from those times are Mervyn Fernandes, Pargat Singh and M P Singh who fared well for the Country. In later years, India witnessed the emergence of another of its brightest talents, Dhanraj Pillai. Dhanraj was the mainstay of our team for many years and few of us at Indoor stadium, Campal had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with him when he had come down to Goa. Joaquim Carvalho, a Goan who donned the colours for India was there along with him and it was an honour and proud moment for us to share a few sporting moments with the two hockey greats. Talking of Pakistan, they too have had very strong teams over the years and produced some of the most breathtaking players in the game, Hasan Sardar, Shahbaz Ahmed Snr, Sohail Abbas to name a few. No wonder a game between India and Pakistan has always been such a wonderful spectacle to watch. Today is August 29, the National Sports Day. It marks the birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand, considered a hockey wizard who won three gold medals for India in Olympics and scored over 400 goals in his illustrious career. India has had such a glorious past and dominated when he played the game. Hopefully, we will dominate once again, not only in hockey but in every sporting arena. Happy National Sports Day wishes to all sports persons.
- warm regards Sandeep Heble