Top 5 Indian Hockey Players of All Time
When it comes to field hockey, India is one of the most successful nations in the world. India has placed third in hockey twelve times. Eight gold, one silver, and three bronze medals are among those victories. India was so dominant when hockey was initially included in the Olympics in 1908 that they won the gold medal each of the first six times they competed.
It should come as no surprise that some of the game’s top players have come from India given the country’s long history in the sport.
Here are the listed 5 Players whom we never forgotten.
1. Dhyan Chand
2. Dhanraj Pillay
3. Balbir Singh Dosanjh
4. Udham Singh Kular
5. Dilip Tirkey
1. Dhyan Chand
Unquestionably, Dhyan Chand is the greatest hockey player to ever represent India and one of the best to ever play the sport. He is referred known as “The Wizard” and has set countless records. Chand, who was renowned for his superb ball handling skills and goal-scoring ability, guided India to three Olympic victories in 1928, 1932, and 1936. The centre striker scored 33 goals in the three competitions, including a hat-trick against Germany in the Olympic final in Berlin in 1936. ‘The Wizard’ scored 570 goals during the course of 185 international games for India.
Chand is well known for his heroics in scoring goals and for winning three field hockey gold medals at the Olympics (1928, 1932, and 1936), when India dominated the sport.
He scored 133 goals during India’s successful 1932 world tour. With more than 400 goals in his international career, Chand, known as “the Wizard” for his exceptional ball control, played his last match in 1948.
He left the service in 1956 with the rank of major. His son, Ashok Kumar Singh, played field hockey for India on the 1970s Olympic field hockey teams and scored the game-winning goal in the 1975 World Cup final.
Dhyan Chand will now be honoured with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Depending on how you look at it, this decision to rename the nation’s top athletic honour after one of the nation’s greatest figures might be characterised as political one-upmanship or a timely one. The emotional resonance Dhyan Chand’s name has and the significance he had for Indian hockey and Indian sports in general, however, cannot be disputed.
2. Dhanraj Pillay
Former Indian hockey team captain Dhanraj Pillay. He is a Pune native who excelled at field hockey and worked his magic there.
Under his leadership, the Indian hockey team won both the 2003 Asia Cup and the 1998 Asian Games. Among other competitions, Pillai has participated in four Olympics, four World Cups, and four Asian Games.
In Khadiki, Pune, Maharashtra, on July 16, 1968, Dhanraj Pillay was born. He was the fourth child to the Tamil couple Andalama and Nagalingam Pillay. His father worked as a groundsman at the Ordnance Factory, where he spent his formative years.
In 2001, he received the civilian honour of the Padma Shri. The hockey team he captained won the Asia Cup in 2003 and the Asian Games in 1998. He received the player of the competition honour at the 2002 Champions trophy in Cologne, Germany. Pillay received the Bharat Gaurav award from the East Bengal Club in 2017.
He honed his hockey talents playing with his brothers and friends in his colony, copying the way Mohammed Shahid, his hero and great forward, played by using broken sticks and discarded hockey balls. He gives his mother, to whom he gives all the credit for his accomplishment, the credit for encouraging her five sons to play hockey despite their meagre circumstances.
Later, Dhanraj relocated to Mumbai in the middle of the 1980s to play with his older brother Ramesh in the Mumbai league. After moving on to Mahindra & Mahindra, Dhanraj was then mentored by the then-Indian Coach, Joaquim Carvalho.
A history of his life called “Forgive Me Amma (Mother),” authored by journalist Sundeep Mishra who followed his nearly three-decade career, was also published.
3. Balbir Singh Dosanjh
Balbir Singh Sr., a true hockey legend from India, is regarded as one of the game’s all-time greatest centre forwards. His talent provided tremendous delight to the nation and helped it carve out its own identity in the years following independence. He was without a doubt the lynchpin of the Indian hockey team’s second hat-trick of Olympic golds, which it achieved in 1948, 1952, and 1956. Balbir Singh, who was born in Punjab to freedom fighters Karam Kaur and Dalip Singh Dosanjh, spent a lot of his early years away from home because his father travelled extensively and was frequently imprisoned. He was introduced to hockey at the age of five, and by the time he was 12 years old, he was enthralled by the Indian hockey team winning their third Olympic gold medal in 1936.
He began as a goalie, switched to the back four, but at a local competition, when he made his debut as a striker, he discovered his true calling.
The first three Olympic gold medals the Indian national hockey team won before gaining independence were won by “The Wizard” Dhyan Chand, but Balbir Singh Dosanjh was the mastermind behind the other three.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Balbir Singh Senior is still regarded as one of India’s most revered hockey icons and is likely the only player whose name is mentioned alongside Dhyan Chand’s in Indian hockey lore.
“It was destiny which helped me to achieve all I did during my career,” Balbir Singh Sr. had summed up his accolades in an interview with The Hindu.
4. Udham Singh Kular
One of India’s most accomplished hockey players in history is Udham Singh Kular. For India, the centre forward brought home three golds and a silver. Olympic gold medals were won in 1952, 1956, and 1964, while Olympic silver medals were won in 1958. Udham was also scheduled to compete in the 1948 Olympics but was unable to go because In his playing career, Singh was a versatile player who filled a variety of positions. The former player later became the Indian team’s coach and guided them to a bronze medal in the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
Only Udham Singh and Leslie Claudius, out of the seven Indian players to win three Olympic gold medals in field hockey, also earned a silver. In 1952, Singh won the gold.
With 14 goals, Singh, a center-forward, led all scorers at the 1956 Olympics. The Punjab Police, which at the time had one of the strongest hockey teams in the country, hired him the same year he was named captain of his college hockey team. for the Punjab Police for 18 years, during which time he twice served as team leader. In 1954, Udham Singh was also named captain of the Punjab State Hockey team.
Additionally, Udham Singh was the Indian Hockey team’s coach, leading the squad to silver medals in the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1970 and the London Olympics in 1967.
He has been working with younger boys to develop them become the Indian hockey stars of the future after he retired from competitive hockey.
The Government of India presented Udham Singh with the Arjuna Award in 1965 to recognise his legendary services and contributions to the game of hockey.
5. Dilip Tirkey
Dilip Tirkey was one of India’s top hockey players, earning 412 international caps. Tirkey is now the new president of Hockey India (HI), 12 years after he retired. The team will have high expectations because the Men’s Hockey World Cup, which will be held in India starting on January 13, 2023, is only a few months away and the team received a favourable draw. The women’s team also did well, winning bronze and qualifying for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. In conclusion, the game is now moving along well.
An administrator of sports, politician, and former field hockey player from India. His previous position on the field was full back. For his penalty corner hits, he was most well-known. Dilip, also referred to as “The Wall of Indian Hockey,” was regarded as one of the toughest defenders in the entire globe. He once served as the Indian hockey team’s captain. The first and only Indian hockey player to appear in more than 400 international games The former captain of the Indian hockey team was Dilip Tirkey. Dilip Tirkey has competed in 412 international games for India. He has represented his country in 3 Olympic Games and served as the captain of the Indian hockey team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In 2003, he won a medal at the Afro-Asian Games by defeating Pakistan in the final.
The first tribal recipient of the Padma Shri Award, Former chairman of the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC), chairman of the Odisha Hockey Promotion Council, and chairman of Hockey Odisha’s ad-hoc committee, Dilip Tirkey served as a member of the Indian Rajya Sabha. He was elected President of Hockey India in September 2022.
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