Bhubaneswar: “He was the most complete hockey player that India has ever seen,” was the comment 1964 Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Gurbux Singh had to offer when asked to comment on the iconic hockey player Dhyan Chand. The Tokyo gold medal-winner was taking part in a virtual discussion on the first anniversary of the first-ever digital campaign launched to demand ‘Bharat Ratna’ for the iconic Major Dhyan Chand. The virtual campaign was conducted by ‘Signature 24 Productions’ in association with Orissa POST as the media partner of the event.
The other panellists who took part in the discussions were Harbinder Singh (a teammate of Gurbux in the 1964 team), Ashok Kumar (son of Dhyan Chand and a member of the Indian team that won the World Cup gold medal in 1975) and current player Yuvraj Walmiki. The show was hosted by popular Odia actor Babushaan.
During the course of discussions, various aspects of Dhyan Chand were discussed. However, one common belief that emerged was that Dhyan Chand is the best-ever hockey player India has ever produced and rightly deserves the ‘Bharat Ratna’.
Gurbux had an interesting story to narrate. He talked about a selection trial camp in 1959 at Patiala attended by 59 players. Dhyan Chand was the chief selector and visited the camp. During the course of the trials, he asked all the 59 to do bully (at that time the game started with the bully where rival players clashed their sticks and then one of them took the ball).
“None of us could manage to take the ball away from ‘Dada’ (the nickname of Dhyan Chand),” said Gurbux. “He was then close to 55 years old at that time. Imagine then what he was in his prime,” Gurbux said.
Dhyan Chand’s son Ashok Kumar also had interesting tales to narrate. The 1975 World Cup gold medal winner said that his dad never wanted him to play hockey. “Maybe because of the financial hardships he had to face while playing hockey. We had severe financial problems because as a staff of the Indian Army my dad did not earn much,” pointed out Ashok.
He also said that he did not receive any formal coaching his father. “Yes, there was supervision; there were tips, but no formal coaching. I learnt a lot watching my dad, I also picked up skills from other players also,” informed Ashok. To which Gurbux quipped, “In those times players were born, not made.”
All the panellists also said that Dhyan Chand was a very simple man in spite of iconic achievements. “Dada was very simple,” said Harbinder Singh. “As my father played with him, I always got his blessings. When he coached me because of my speed he always urged me to move forward and never pass the ball square. A tip that helped me immensely in my career,” he added.
Ashok had another interesting tell to narrate. He said that during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler had asked Dhyan Chand to join the German army. “I want to serve the Indian Army only,” Dhyan Chand had replied. “He was a man very patriotic man who loved the Tricolour,” informed Ashok. “One of his greatest regrets in life was that whenever he won gold, he did it for the ‘Union Jack’ (British flag). He never heard the national anthem on any of three occasions the Indian team won the gold in which he was a member,” said Ashok.
Walmiki did not have much to offer on Dhyan Chand. However, he said that during his tenure of eight years in the German Hockey League, people always referred to him as the ‘man from Dhyan Chand’s country’. It just goes to show how much the Dhyan Chand Sir was revered,” said Walmiki.