Once I asked a 10 year old chap, “What’s out national game?”. As expected, he gave the correct answer, “It’s Hockey !!!”. But what came as a sudden shock to me was his next statement, “But why it is Hockey? Why not Cricket?”. I was clueless. This incident falls back some 6 years from now. A 19 year young Indian, that’s me, can’t justify why is it Hockey and why not Cricket.
That thought remained with me in my sub-conscious mind for years and made me not just watch or play a game, but also made me learn what legacy it has left behind.
Many of us today know that Hockey has given India many golden moment to boast and have pride upon. But only a few know that those moments are golden dreams that no other Hockey playing nation on the face of earth has been able to realize so far. Becoming the first non-European team to be a part of the International Hockey Federation, India’s first exposure to World Hockey was in 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games in which to everyone’s utter surprise, India came out as unbeaten champs registering its first ever Gold Medal !!! As a matter of fact, it did not conceded even a single goal in the tournament with Major Dhyan Chand (14 goals) being the top goal scorer on the charts. His astounding skills have been glorified in various apocryphal stories and anecdotes. A number such legends revolve around the fact that he had a magical control over dribbling the ball. Many say that the German Olympic officials broke his hockey stick to search for a magnet inside, and tried to console themselves saying he had added some sort of glue !!!
It was mere start of a revolution in the sport. World has to witness much more that this. These champions went on the win SIX Olympic Gold Medals until 1956 and that too, in a row. This was a feast which is still a record standing tall. With 8 Olympic, 1 World Cup, 2 Asian Games and 2 Asia Cup golds in all, this sport has made every Indian proud in a true sense.
Then why is Cricket followed more than Hockey in India despite of being our National Game? Is it a boring game? Is it the politics? Is it the bad play of players in recent past? Is it the lack of sponsors? or is it the lack f infrastructure? I believe it is we, the people of India who are responsible for current state of the game. How many times we ask ourselves to go and watch a Hockey match? How many times we even realized that India won a certain tournament and celebrated like we do for Cricket? It was Dhanraj Pillai’s Gold winner team returning from Asian Games who didn’t found any media or public with garlands to receive them at airport but it was letter of suspension from the Indian Hockey Board which welcomed him. No body gave it a second thought, many of us not even first.
With the Hockey World Cup 2010 (taking place in Delhi) already On, I believe it is our time to return the favor. Lets go and support our National Game.
Chak De India !!!
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