Hockey is the only event in which India has won Gold Medals - 8 of them. Hockey was considered the National Game of India. Unmatched excellence and incomparable virtuosity brought India a string of Olympic gold medals. The brilliant Indians brought a touch of black magic to their play and the ball juggling feats of the Indians were a sheer delight.

The Golden Era of hockey in India was the period from 1928 - 1956 when India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics. During the Golden Era, India played 24 Olympic matches, won all 24, scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals. The two other gold medals for India came in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

In 1956, after India won the last of its six consecutive gold medals, the manager of the Pakistan hockey team, Riazuddin Ahmed said, "This is the first time that we played India in the Olympics. The next time we play, the result will be different." His prophetic words came true in 1960, when after 28 consecutive victories in the Olympic Games, India lost 0-1 to Pakistan in the 1960 Rome Olympics final. Gold had finally turned to silver and a magical era had ended. The pages that follow recreate the glory of India's golden moments in the Olympics. Enjoy!

Snippets from the Indian freedom struggle will be the lead-ins to the main text. Our Golden Era in the Olympics also coincided with important moments in India's history like the Non-Cooperation, Civil Disobedience and Quit India Movements, Dandi Yatra, Round Table Conferences, and the Azad Hind Fauj.

190 years after Robert Clive lead a band of 800 Englishmen and 2220 Indian mercenaries to victory over Nawab Siraj-ud-daula's army of 50,000 troops at Plassey, 90 years after Mangal Pandey triggered off the first Indian War of Independence, India attained her freedom at the stroke of the midnight hour on August 15, 1947. We have chosen as our theme martyrs who died for the freedom of their beloved country.