Biography of Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand
By Niket Bhushan, Wiley Eastern Ltd., 1992
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The Berlin Airlift | Dhyan Chand recalls this defeat
in his autobiography, "As long as I live, I shall never forget this
match, or get over the shock of this defeat, which still rankles me.
Roop Singh was sick and did not enter the field. The result of the play shocked us so much that we had no sleep that night. Some of us did not even have our dinner. At night, Mr. Pankaj Gupta, Jafar and myself went into a conference with Mr. Jagannath (manager). |
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n a
practice match in Berlin on July 17, played before the Olympic hockey events,
India miserably lost 1-4 at the hands of a German XI. The German players hit the
ball hard and ran after every pass. India was lacklustre physically, and to add
to its troubles, the ground was slippery, which probably explained why the
forwards missed so many chances.
Dhyan Chand recalls this defeat in his autobiography, "As long as I live, I shall never forget this match, or get over the shock of this defeat, which still rankles me. Hitler's Germany had made great strides in their game. The team was selected out of the 26 players who formed the German hockey contingent.
Roop Singh was sick and did not enter the field. The result of the play shocked us so much that we had no sleep that night. Some of us did not even have our dinner. At night, Mr. Pankaj Gupta, Syed Mohammad Jafar and myself went into a conference which Mr. Jagannath (manager) also joined.
We were unanimous that centre-half Masood be replaced and a substitute be obtained in his place. That night, Mr. Gupta rushed to Berlin from the Olympic Village and sent a cable to IHF President Kunwar Jagdish Prasad, asking him to send Dara, failing which, to get either Frank Wells or Erick Henderson or Pinniger."
The IHF had tried to include Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara when the team was in India. However, the army could not spare him, and the team left without him. When the IHF got the SOS call, the army agreed to release Dara this time. Dara hopped onto a small plane that stopped and refueled at many places but managed to reach the Indian team just in time.
Among the German media, public and players, there was some element of surprise as to who was this player that Dhyan Chand had requested all the way from India? How could India, with so many great players already in its team, leave this one out?
Though India played 8 practice matches in all, the team could not get over that one defeat to Germany.
Dara played for India in 1936 but opted for Pakistan in the 1948 Games