Major Dhyan Chand

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Sanjay Dudhane is a versatile journalist and prolific writer who has authored 27 books. He has published biographies of Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar, Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, Boxer Mary Kom. His first book on India's first individual medallist Khashaba Jadhav has been published by NBT. He has written more than 1200 articles in various newspapers and magazines. He was the accredited journalist of Olympic Games 2012 (London), 2016 (Rio) and 2020 (Tokyo).

Major Dhyan Chand (1905-1979), a hockey player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Known as the 'Hockey Wizard' or 'the Magician of hockey', he had goal-scoring feats and dribbling skills, which made India win three consecutive Gold medals in Hockey at the Olympic Games of 1928, 1932 and 1936. He is the recipient of many honours including Padma Bhushan. His birthday, 29 August, is celebrated as National Sports Day in India. This book gives glimpses of the life of Major who strove for the glory of his country and by whose name Indian hockey is known for. The Khel Ratna award is also named after him.

Preface

While I was in school, there was a lesson in our textbook about Major Dhyan Chand's unprecedented marvels in hockey. Its title was 'The Magician of Hockey. While reading this article, I would wonder how one man could score nearly one thousand goals in field hockey. Later on, I was encouraged to read and study about the Olympic Games. Luckily for me, while I was doing my graduation, I met and got acquainted with Mr. Babu Nimal, one of the miracle men' of Major Dhyan Chand's 'Berlin Band.' He used to narrate many interesting anecdotes about Dhyan Chand's prowess. He used to narrate the golden history of the 1936 Berlin Olympics' triumph graphically. I would listen to him spellbound; gradually the idea of writing the biography of this great son of India - Major Dhyan Chand - seeped into my mind and got firmly implanted there.

Major Dhyan Chand's birthday, 29 August, is now celebrated every year as the 'National Sports Day'. In order to express our gratitude to Dhyan Chand, I wrote articles about his glorious era in hockey in some leading dailies like 'Lokmat' and 'Pudhari' while working as a sports journalist. But due to time constraints, I was unable to start writing his biography. However in 2010, I made up my mind and resolved to devote as much of my time as I could to finish this task. After tenacious efforts of eight months, I was able to give final touches to his biography.

The World Cup Hockey tournament was held at Delhi in March 2010. I was the sole Marathi Sports correspondent to cover this wonderful event. The entire tournament was played in the arena of Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium. During those two weeks, whenever I would go to the stadium to watch matches, my feet would involuntarily turn towards the inspiring statue of Major Dhyan Chand located at the entrance and I would bow my head in reverence to this great stalwart. Witnessing this tournament, I got more enthusiastic and succeeded in completing his biography before his next birth anniversary.