20 August 2009

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Do We Remember Indian National Game is Hockey

Dyan Chand Statue-

Do We Remember Indian National Game is Hockey

Cricket or Hockey which is Indian National Game?


Hockey is the national game of India.

If you will ask the kids now days which game is the national game of India?

You will be surprised by the answer Cricket.

Even it seems that print and television media also thinks and act in such a way that Cricket is the national game of India.


Please watch carefully all the television news channels you will not find single news about hockey or condition of hockey in the India or What are the problems faced by Indian hockey Team.


Sometimes I doubt that even government of India also thinks that cricket is the national game of India.
Remembering Golden Era Of Hockey , a Era like that BCCI Cricket has never seen.
The Indian Hockey Federation gained global affiliation in 1927 and joined the International Hockey Federation (FIH).


India has won 8 Olympic gold medals.


Indian hockey's golden period was from 1928-56, when the Indian hockey team won six successive Olympic gold medals. Team also won the 1975 World Cup besides two more medals (silver and a bronze).
During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals.


The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Dhyan Chand was part of three gold medal-winning Indian teams at the Olympics -- in Amsterdam (1928), Los Angeles (1932) and Berlin, where he was the captain.


Born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, on August 29, 1905, he was named Dhyan Singh.
Legend has it that after seeing him play at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Hitler offered Dhyan Chand, a Major in the British Indian Army, German citizenship and a higher army post. The prolific striker politely turned it down.


In the 1932 Olympics, when India famously drubbed the United States 24-1 -- still a world record for the biggest margin of victory -- Dhyan Chand's contribution was eight goals. The same year, he netted a whopping 133 goals out of India's 338.


One of the most touching gestures came from the residents of Vienna, who built a statue of the Indian with four hands and four sticks, signifying his unparallel control over the ball.


But when this hero of India died he died in such a way that I can not write it here.
Sansarpur, a tiny village on the outskirts of Jalandhar, has the distinction of producing 9 Olympians - Gurmit Singh (1932), Udham Singh (1952, '56,'60, '64), Gurdev Singh (1956), Darshan Singh (1964), Jagjit Singh (1964,'68), Balbir Singh - Services, Balbir Singh - Punjab and Tarsem Singh (1968),and the World Cup winning captain Ajitpal Singh (1968, '72, '76).

List of Olympic Field Hockey Champions-
Men

1. 1908 - England

2. 1912 - Not Held

3. 1920 - Great Britain

4. 1924 - Not Held

5. 1928 - India

6. 1932 - India

7. 1936 - India

8. 1948 - India

9. 1952 - India

10. 1956 - India

11. 1960 - Pakistan

12. 1964 - India

13. 1968 - Pakistan

14. 1972 - West Germany

15. 1976 - New Zealand

16. 1980 - India

17. 1984 - Pakistan

18. 1988 - Great Britain

19. 1992 - Germany

20. 1996 - Netherlands

21. 2000 - Netherlands

22. 2004 - Australia

Women

1. 1980 - Zimbabwe

2. 1984 - Netherlands

3. 1988 - Australia

4. 1992 - Spain

5. 1996 - Australia

6. 2000 - Australia

7. 2004 – Germany


If you are a sportsman and if you understand the game please let us know who is responsible for this mess?
This is the reason I wanted to ask everyone and myself does time has come to declare
Cricket as the National game of India.


Does really hockey is still our national game.


Few months back in January 2009 Indian cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi demanded that cricket should be made India's national game.
But today in the year 2009 Indian Hockey has become zero in the game of hockey.
Who is responsible for this?
Who will answer these questions?

Watch video Tribute to Indian Hockey-


More about Indian Hockey-

If you are from Madras you may have seen this building.
This is the hotel where Douglas Jardine's team stayed when they visited Madras. So did Dyan Chand's victorious 1936 Olympics Hockey team. Where is this and what is it now?
Answer
It was the D'Angelis Hotel, started by Corsican D'Angeli and later named as Bosottos that hosted Douglas Jardine's team and Dyan Chand's team. This was the first hotel in Madras to have an electric lift and cold storage. Also probably Madras' first French Restaurant.If you have not heard about the hotel, don't worry; it doesn't exist anymore. Bosottos quit the hotel business in 1940s to concentrate on confectionery.
It is now occupied by the Bata Showroom in Mount Road. Next time you stop at the signal there, look closely at the Bata Showroom. You can still see some old architecture left over

Govinda and Ajitpal Singh with the 1975 World Cup



21 comments:

Aj August 21, 2009  

Thanks for visiting my blog and posting ur comments.

Abhishek August 21, 2009  

Yeah, Cricket should be declared India's National Sport rather than Hockey... our level of hypocrisy is evident in not doing so... though I don't follow either of the sport, I feel hockey deserves its due, and cricket is given more than it deserves simply because of huge following!

shilpa August 21, 2009  

You should be given award for writting such a beautiful piece very rare to find such blogs hats off to you dear keep it up

Mohan August 21, 2009  

Very true. Good topic. If you look at the fact sheet, India adopted hockey as national game because we were on the roll to win multiple world cups in hockey during our independence and cricket was very naive to us by then.

We are not only biased towards some games, looking at our olympic medals tell the whole story on how good we are in building sports pool. It is sad but the reality is cricket is everything right now.

Anonymous,  August 21, 2009  

Single reason why hockey and football are flops in india - http://bit.ly/oWdpv

Gauri Gharpure August 21, 2009  

this is a very nice post..

it has one simple connection for me-- my grandfather was a great hockey fan.. i sometimes heard him say with nostalgia, 'you know, i was good at hockey'..

though i do not follow any sports, i do think cricket is overrated and it sidelines many other sports in our country..

sm,  August 21, 2009  

AJIT thanks

sm,  August 21, 2009  

Abhishek i agree with you

sm,  August 22, 2009  

shilpa thanks for comment and compliment.

sm,  August 22, 2009  

Mohan yes you are right i agree with you.

sm,  August 22, 2009  

vamsi thannks comment and the link

sm,  August 22, 2009  

Gauri yes i agree with you cricket is overrated in India.

Everymatter August 22, 2009  

India had lot of potential both for hockey and cricket but today cricket is more attractive due to lot of money and celebrity status in it. Big politicians taking good amount from cricket. Lets free all sports federation from politics and give their control to the really talented players so that nation can have good teams for both sports.

sm,  August 22, 2009  

everymatter you have correctly said that
Lets free all sports federation from politics and give their control to the really talented players so that nation can have good teams for both sports.

Aswani August 24, 2009  

Very true. I am not surprised by your post. This had to happen one day. In a country like India, where Cricket is considered to be a religion, there was always a very little chance to expect the same with hockey.

preposterous girl August 24, 2009  

Hi Sm..
Yeah I also second u as everyone here..
As always u always pick different and informative topics to blog on. Kudos.. :)

sm,  August 25, 2009  

Aswani yes cricket is considered as religion.

sm,  August 25, 2009  

preposterous girl thanks

Anonymous,  September 15, 2011  

brinkka2011 says: Thanks so much for posting all of the good content! I am looking forward to reading more.

Unknown June 14, 2014  

gr8 peice if writing dude.......got more knowledge abt our national sport.....thnks