Dhyan Chand led India to the top of the Olympic podium thrice and scored over 400 goals. His birthday, 29 August, is celebrated as National Sports Day.
With a biopic on former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh, Ali brings freshness to an expanding sports genre by focussing on the struggle of the body.
More than anything sports ministry, Indian Hockey Federation or even the afterglow of Chak De India have done to revive the game, the 2010 World Cup could signal a second innings in India.
The last time this matter flared up was when Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, in a very similar directive in April, called for the relocation of stray dogs in the capital.
Finance ministry says the proposed revamp will focus on structural reforms, rate rationalisation & ease of living, & will be deliberated upon in the coming weeks.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
This is absolutely wrong information and this has been propagated unchecked for generations. Hitler never met Dhyan Chand nor seen any of his hochey matches during the Berlin Olympics of 1936. Hitler was present only at the main Olympic stadium where the Athletics were conducted. The hockey matches were played in a much smaller stadium a mile away. The hockey finals had to be postponed because if the games and it was played on the final closing day when most of the olympic officials had left. One would not expect the most powerful person on earth in the year 1936 to be there. The official olympic records make no such mention. The very idea of an offer of an officer’s post is laughable. In those times to be German Officer one had to be a pure aryan and also had to prove his aryan lineage for the past three generations (six for the officers of the SS). This condition was only relaxed in the 1940s to accomodate volunteers of more nationalities including the Frei Indien which gain was officered by the Germans.
This article is incorrect in many ways. Hitler did not offer Dhyan Chand any job in German army. He simply said that if Chand had been of German descent he would have made him an army officer. Hitler and Nazi’s were very particular about the race so the point of offering a job and Dhyan Chand refusing it doesn’t arise.
I agree that Dhyan Chand didn’t get his due from India.
This is absolutely wrong information and this has been propagated unchecked for generations. Hitler never met Dhyan Chand nor seen any of his hochey matches during the Berlin Olympics of 1936. Hitler was present only at the main Olympic stadium where the Athletics were conducted. The hockey matches were played in a much smaller stadium a mile away. The hockey finals had to be postponed because if the games and it was played on the final closing day when most of the olympic officials had left. One would not expect the most powerful person on earth in the year 1936 to be there. The official olympic records make no such mention. The very idea of an offer of an officer’s post is laughable. In those times to be German Officer one had to be a pure aryan and also had to prove his aryan lineage for the past three generations (six for the officers of the SS). This condition was only relaxed in the 1940s to accomodate volunteers of more nationalities including the Frei Indien which gain was officered by the Germans.
This article is incorrect in many ways. Hitler did not offer Dhyan Chand any job in German army. He simply said that if Chand had been of German descent he would have made him an army officer. Hitler and Nazi’s were very particular about the race so the point of offering a job and Dhyan Chand refusing it doesn’t arise.
I agree that Dhyan Chand didn’t get his due from India.
Terrific piece. Very enjoyable.