August 29……………a day passed unnoticed by many Indians in the annual calender last week .But sport lover all over the world should remember that on this day, Major Dhyan Chand, Indian hockey wizard, was born & went on to become an unparelled genius.

His most memorable achievement was in 1932 Summer Olympics held at Los Angeles, USA.The team under Lal Shah Bukhari defended their title winning the gold.The team routed the United States hockey team 23-1, a world record that stood until 2003.And Dhyan contributed eight ofthose goals & along with his brother, Roop Singh ,formed a formidable core of the team.Dhyan scored 12 goals in India’s two matches in that Olympics & he had scored 133 goals out of India’s 338 in that year.After watching Dhyan Chand in action, the grand old man of cricket ,Sir Don Bradman had remarked “He scores goals like runs in cricket” .

Another major incident took place in the 1936 Olympics final in Berlin.The Indian team had gone down to Germans in a friendly match, shprtly before the Olympics.But this time, India’s forward line was reinforced by the inclusion of Ali Iqtida, who managed to reached Berlin just in time for the final.

India was under pressure right from the start of the match, because the final was played in a jampacked stadium & none other than the legendary German ruler ,Adolf Hitler was in the stands.The Germans did not want to lose the match under any circumstances in front of their ruler.And India had been leading 1-0 at the interval .After the break, the Germans resorted to rough paly& Dhyan Chand broke his teeth in a collision with the German goalkeeper.But , he was soon back in action & scored six goals to tilt the scores as 8-1.

After the match,during the customary dinner, Hitler came to Dhyan Chand & said,

“ Chand , you are a wonderful player.You have beaten Germany .I will give you German citizenship & I offer you the post of a Major in our Army.” The patriotic hockey wizard ,calmly replied with tears in his eyes, “ Sorry Sir…I love India than anything else in this world!”

His genius wa such that, in Holland, people broke his stick to check whether there was any magnet inside & in Japan, they thought that something of glue was applied to his stick,such was his speed & control of the ball.It is said ,the residents of Vienna(Austria) honoured him by setting up a statue of him with four hands & four sticks,depicting his control & mastery over the ball.

I hope next August 29, sports lovers from different fields would join in celebrating the birthday of genius.