Ever since Abhinav Bindra won a gold medal at Beijing Olympics air rifle competition, the face of the Indian sports has changed completely with this first ever individual Olympic gold medal. The same feeling had deeply touched and moved the hearts of a million Indians when we had lifted the Cricket World Cup trophy for the first time led by the ever so dashing player, Kapil Dev. While Dhoni lifted the T-20 World Cup Trophy, the Indians had rejoiced once again. But there are still some unsung heroes. The Indians have long forgotten the forbidden game of Hockey.
It all started when India first participated in the first ever Olympics Hockey event in 1928. Amsterdam was the venue for the event. Under the able leadership of Jaipal Singh, Indian team bagged the Gold Medal. For the next six successive Olympics spanning twenty eight years (1928-1956) India won all the gold medals. Three out of which were contributed by none other than Dhyan Chand, the Hockey Wizard. It was definitely the golden era of Indian Hockey. India again won two more gold medals in Olympic hockey, 1964 Tokyo Olympics & 1980 Moscow Olympics. But now the game and the team have gone into oblivion. When India was on a winning spree, there was no media coverage, no promotion, no sponsorships, no funds, and no endorsements to fill the pockets of the players. And the victories were buried & the contributions of the yesteryear heroes were never remembered.
In 1975 India won the World Cup Hockey Tournament, but no one probably knows about it. On the other hand just a couple of days back we celebrated the silver jubilee of Indian World cup cricket victory of 1983. We sat for hours when Indian team reached the World Cup finals during Saurav Ganguly’s captaincy and also had the patience of enduring the lost match against Australia. But we are unconcerned about the fact that this time the Indian Hockey Team did not qualify for the Beijing Olympics. But each time they lost we have had the guts to point a finger at them and say that they are a bunch of losers; without even giving it a thought that the sort of encouragement, sponsorship and promotion, the game of the rich (cricket) gets; Hockey is nowhere near it.
If Sachin Tendulkar passes by he will be flocked by fans for an autograph but Dhanraj Pillai isn’t a household name. Sachin Tendulkar is a brand name in himself and Dhanraj Pillai has been long dismissed as the unsuccessful captained whose inability was that he couldn’t get back a Gold medal and Sachin is still forced by the BCCI to play in ODIs and Tests hoping that he will be back with a bang with the same old blazing gun shots. We can only shed tears while Chak De India Girls lift the World Cup Trophy but no one knows Mr. Negi the asli hero of Indian Hockey.
These unsung heroes will never be remembered and the National Sports Authority of India will never take a step to improve the prevailing situations. Politics & lack of basic amenities & low funds will never give the Indian Hockey players the deserved fame or attention. Now the responsibilities lie on the shoulders of the common man. We have to realize that this is the essence of the Indian sports & we need to support & fight on behalf of the Indian Hockey federation so that they can regain back their respect.
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