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India’s National Sports Day is observed every year on August 29 to commemorate the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, born in 1905. Fondly remembered as the ‘Wizard of Hockey’, Dhyan Chand played a pivotal role in securing India’s first Olympic gold medals in field hockey between 1928 and 1936. National Sports Day was first celebrated in 2012 and is marked annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to promote sporting culture in the country and honour the contributions of Indian athletes.
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Born on August 29, 1905, in Allahabad to Sharadha Singh and Sameshwar Singh, a soldier in the British Indian Army, Dhyan Singh was drawn towards hockey at a very early age. Like his father, he too enrolled himself in the army at the age of 16 and continued to play his favourite sport there.
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Dhyan Chand’s progress through the ranks saw him make the Indian Army team for a tour to New Zealand in 1926, where they won 18 matches, drew two and lost just a solitary tie during the tour.
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Following his New Zealand campaign, Dyan Chand also became a part of India’s first men’s hockey team to compete in the Olympics. Leading India’s attack in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam was their centre-forward hockey player, Dhyan Chand, who top-scored with 14 goals in 5 matches en route to a gold medal in their debut appearance.
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Following Amsterdam, Dhyan Chand made it to the Indian team for the 1932 LA Olympics, where the Indian team clinched another gold. Chand was also joined by his brother, Roopal Singh, in the squad this time. During a period of intense scrutiny, authorities from various countries, including the Netherlands and the UK, once broke his hockey stick to check for hidden magnets, a testament to his seemingly magical control of the ball.
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: Dhyan would be so engrossed in the game that he played hockey even during the night after his duty hours, practising under the moonlight, a reason that earned him the name Dhyan Chand (‘Chand’ means moon in Hindi).
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While the previous two editions saw Dhyan lead the Indian hockey team with his emphatic performances on the field, at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, he was named the captain of the side.
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At the closing ceremony of the 1936 Olympics, held with great pomp and grandeur, one of history’s most infamous leaders, Hitler, was in attendance. Impressed by the Indian team’s brilliant gameplay, especially Dyan Chand’s sporting wizardry, he priased their performance, recognising their dominance on the field.
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Returning from their triumph in Berlin, Chand joined his regiment and confined himself to army hockey. Though the sport in India continued to scale greater heights with the likes of Balbir Singh Sr leading the charge as India went on an all-conquering era, Dhyan Chand’s contribution remains unparalleled.
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He retired from his army service in 1956 as Major Dhyan Chand and was conferred the Padma Bhushan – the third-highest civilian award in India – the same year. He would take up coaching soon and was later named the chief coach of the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala.
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