Bharat Ratna :- for a sportsman

I was reading an article on the above and I was really amused at the comments etc. put up by people on the above issue, That if sportsmen are included then who should the First Bharat ratna go , I was amazed and ASTONISHED and SURPRISED too that the name of Sachin Tendulkar was making the rounds .. Please tell me what’s wrong with the people who think he should be the first one, No doubt that he is a great sportsman… But my question is why he deserves to be the first one when there are other sportsmen who deserve more and have done more for the sports of the nation.  We as a nation love to run after media and the limelight, I would like to ask one question what is it that Sachin has supposedly done for the nation. Yes he is ONE of the greatest players of cricket, He is the One who has all the records, No doubts about it… 

The books, scores, points speak for him, so very true… If we do look logically all those milestones have come at a higher number of matches that he has played…, I am a great fan of Sachin, I have missed classes-work to see him bat and play, and will continue to do so. I dont have an ounce of question mark on his personal and professional behaviour. He has been at top of his game for so many years , whereas a lot came and went during the time… HE IS DESERVING OF THE BHARAT RATNA .. No doubts about it but I also think he is not deserving of being the First one to get the biggest award that india has to offer when there are Players and other sportsmen who have done much more for the NATION and not just for their own pocket. Sachin has made a name yes, but he has been equally rewarded by the amount of money he has been given and Not asked the question when he did not perform. 

A Name that comes to mind is that of Major Dhyan Chand the GOD of hockey, which my dear readers is supposedly the NATIONAL GAME of our nation, we keep running about how this is wrong in our nation that is wrong in our nation, We as citizens have not been able to follow our own national game and we have the time to talk such silly talks. 

 Whether you are a hockey lover or not, anyone who claims to be a sports lover would, or should, know about Dhyan Chand. He was instrumental in the country winning three successive Olympic Gold medals in hockey – 1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles and 1936 Berlin… This man is a Myth – a Legend and has folk stories following his exploits…  It is said that 

•  After India played its first match in the 1936 Olympics, Dhyan Chand’s magical stick work drew crowds from other venues to the hockey field. A German newspaper carried a banner headline: ‘The Olympic complex now has a magic show too.’  The next day, there were posters all over Berlin: Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action.

• Example of the level of patriotism: In 1936 Dhyan Chand won his third consecutive Olympic gold medal in hockey.  Hitler walked off the field in a huff – the Indian team had beaten Germany 8-1 and Chand had scored six of the goals. Next day, Hitler offered Chand a position in the German army that was considerably higher than that which he held in India.  Chand politely declined.

• In Holland, the authorities broke his hockey stick to check if there was a magnet inside

• On one occasion, a lady from the audience asked Dhyan Chand to play with her walking stick instead. He scored goals even with them!

• Cricket world’s legend Don Bradman and Hockey’s greatest player Dhyan Chand once came face to face at Adelaide in 1935, when the Indian hockey team was in Australia. After watching Dhyan Chand in action, Don Bradman remarked “He scores goals like runs in cricket”

• Residents of Vienna, Austria, honoured him by setting up a statue of him with four hands and four sticks, depicting his control and mastery over the ball.

• In 1936 itself the Indian contingent which was the hockey team Refused to salute Hitler… the only other team to do that was the Americans. The crowd watched in dismay as the Indians did not offer the Nazi salute and while their gesture went largely unnoticed back home, it created quite a stir in Germany.

He was, simply, ‘The Hockey Wizard’, scoring over 400 goals in his international career.  He was just that good.  The recent giving out of the Padam shri awards to all sorts of people with doubtful integrity has devalued this award.

Another point that I want to make is that all other sportsmen have some sort of equivalent in there field , Sachin has fellow cricketers who are almost as good the likes of the Rahul dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev …  But Dhyan Chand when he played, He was unparalleled, no one came close not just from Indian players but worldwide. Such was his mastery over the Stick. There are so many stories about his exploits on the field all over the world do we think that Sachin’s Exploits are that amazing ?

Sachin has just won ONE world cup in his entire career, whereas Dhyan Chand won Three and he was Instrumental in all the wins, Sachin as we know has not been always that instrumental. 

Some of the facts that I have found out in my searches…

In the year 1926 Dhyan Chand was selected for the Indian Hockey team going to visit New Zealand at a tour. During the tour, the Indian team scored 20 goals in a match played at Dannkerke, and Dhyan Chand alone had scored 10 of them. India played 21 matches on the tour, out of which it won 18, lost 1 and drew 2 matches. The team scored a total number of 192 goals and Dhyan Chand alone had scored over 100 of them… At the London Folkestone Festival in 1927, he scored 36 goals out of India’s total 72 goals, in 10 matches played at the event. 

In the Los Angeles Olympics 1932, the Indian team led by Lal Shah Bukhari again won the Gold medal. In the tournament, the Indian Hockey team defeated the USA Hockey team by 23-1, which remained a world record until it was broken in the year 2003. Out of these 23 goals, 8 were scored alone by Dhyan Chand. In the event, Dhyan Chand scored 12 goals for India in 2 matches.

In the Berlin Olympics 1936, Indian had successfully treaded their path to the finals crushing Hungary by 4-0, USA by 7-0,  Japan  9-0 , France 10 -0 without conceding a single goal in the tournament. and was going to combat Germany in the Finals. In the Final match, the Indian squad could score only 1 goal till the interval. Dhyan Chand removed his shoes in the interval and played the match barefooted onwards. The Indian team won the match and the Gold medal by 8-1.

In 1932, India scored 338 goals in 37 matches, of which 133 were from the Dhyan Chand’s magic wand.

 A famous story goes thus:

• He put through a ball to K D Singh Babu, then turned his back and walked away. When Babu asked for an explanation, he was told, “If you could not get a goal from that you did not deserve to be on my team.”

• Once, In a game many of the shots hits by him were missing the goal post, Dhyan Chand argued with the match referee regarding the measurement of the goal post, and amazingly, it was found to not be in conformation with the official width of a goal post.

Dhyan Chand had complete mastery over the game, His placements were perfect, and many a times he did not even have to look where the player was the Ball reached the player, when he was expected to shoot, he would pass and when he passed, he expected the player not to miss.

After his retirment he would still embarrass goalkeepers during practise games by dropping the ball and driving it into the corner of the net on the half volley ten times in a row.

Two things that will encapsulate his greatness.

Once an invitation to play in East Africa stipulated a condition: No Dhyan Chand, no invitation

A statue of the whiz in a Vienna sports club, it is said, shows a man with four arms and four sticks.

It is a pity that we as a nation never give due recognition to anyone who deserves Especially when they are alive, The same happened with this great man too. India’s highest award for lifetime achievement in sports is the Dhyan Chand Award which has been awarded annually from 2002 to sporting figures who not only contribute through their performance but also contribute to the sport after their retirement. Yet we are debating over the fact that who should be the first sportsman to get the most prestigious award.. WELL WHO ELSE ?

 

The team that played the FIRST Olympic Hockey Game

The Olympic winners of 1928