Indian Hockey: How the Dynasty Began (1928-64)

Cricket is the most popular sport in India. It enjoys a huge fan following from all corners of the country. These sportspersons are worshiped in countless households. But a question still intrigues us. Why is Hockey the national sport of the country? The reason is that before the term ‘cricket’ ruled the TRP charts, there was a period in which this sport gave India plenty of reasons to smile. The period being 1928-56 and the sport HOCKEY to be exact. So how did the Indian Hockey dynasty begin?

Though India has been winning medals in Olympics Games sporadically, there is no other sport except hockey where its record has been consistent as well as successful, till a not-so distant past. Glorious performances in one Olympics after the other made this game so popular in India. So much so that it came to be recognized as the national game of the country. Not only did it win 6 Gold medals in the Olympic games from the year 1928 to 1956, it went on to grab 1 Gold medal each at the Tokyo Olympics in the year 1964 and Moscow Olympics in the year 1980. In between, it also won silver medal in the year 1960 Olympics games and a bronze medal each in the Olympics games of 1968 and 1972.

The Indian hockey has always been graced by players of individual brilliance like the legendary Dhyan Chand, who almost single-handedly won India 3 Olympics gold medals, or other stalwarts like Balbir Singh (Senior), RS Bhola, Leslie Claudius, Surjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Ashok Kumar and Ajitpal Singh.

The golden era began in Amsterdam Games 1928, when hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand burst into limelight after scoring 14 goals to become the tournaments top goal scorer. Not only did India win its first ever gold, it did so in style with a clean sheet in the tournament.

The Indian juggernaut continued in Los Angeles 1932 and Berlin 1936 which witnessed the famous Major Dhyan Chand anecdote. Chand lost a tooth after a collision with the goalkeeper in the gold medal match against the hosts Germany. Visibly angry over the incident he took the team into a huddle. What followed was an act of sheer artistic control that remain etched in the minds of Germans and Indians alike for a very long time. The Indians repeatedly took the ball into the German circle but refused to shoot a goal, returning back into their half. That left the Germans humiliated.

Meanwhile, India won the match by a thumping 8-1 margin, thereby completing a hat-trick of Olympic gold. Parity was restored in London 1948 after two World Wars and a painful partition. The first hockey team of independent India made their debut. The subcontinent showed no signs of strain from what it went through and promptly won gold. The golden run continued in Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. The masterminds behind these were KD Singh Babu and Balbir Singh Sr. and other, who then became household names. Pakistan provided an impediment to India’s gold rush in the next Olympics. But India took its revenge in the following Tokyo Games in 1964. They beat arch-rivals Pakistan with a solitary goal to bring home the golden delight.