THE FORGOTTEN EPISODES IN INDIAN SPORTS- PART 1: India’s first Olympic Gold medal

In a country where cricket is considered the greatest religion (of course not for 

everyone), Indian sports had multiple milestones in the timeline of history but to our 

dismay unknown to the larger proportion of people. The rich sports heritage starting 

from the 20^th century have made the nation proud in many ways but many such events 

have been forgotten through the passage of time. So here I am, a sports fanatic with 

some of those historical significant events in Indian sports for readers to know and 

relive those moments through my writing. Hope you like it!!!

India’s first Olympic Gold medal: 1928 Amsterdam,

It all started in the year 1908 when Hockey made its Olympic debut at London. But 

there were already some clubs formed in the country like in Calcutta in 1885 which 

was followed by Beighton Cup, country’s first tournament the same year and Aga 

Khan Cup in Bombay the following year. But the apex governing body, Indian Hockey 

Federation (IHF) was formed in the year and had its meeting for the first time in 1925 

in Gwalior being the first non European team to be part of FIH (Federation 

Internationale de Hockey) . Their first International tour was to New Zealand where 

they won 18 out of the 21 matches and scored 192 goals where Dhyan Chand’s skills 

befuddled the opposition in every game.

Thus started the hockey fairy tale as Indian hockey team took part in the 1928 

Amsterdam Olympics. Jaipal Singh, a Ranchi boy studying in Oxford was made 

India’s captain and an Indian team of 15 men went to represent India but due to 

unavailability of funds, two players were dropped at the last minute but the issue was 

settled by arranging funds at the last minute. The Indian Olympic team before leaving 

played a practice match against Bombay losing 2-3 which resulted in very little 

expectation from the team. But who knew that glory awaited them!!!

The Indian hockey contingent played some practice matches in London and thrashed 

every club teams there and was suddenly hailed by the British media as favorites. 

India began their tournament with a 6-0 victory over Austria with the wonder boy 

Dhyan Chand scoring 4 of them. This marked the beginning of stardom of the 

“Hockey Wizard” as he breached Austria’s defense numerous times and gave India the 

thumping start. The entire country was proud and newspapers also praised them.

India’s next challenge was the strong Belgium and this team they increased the margin 

by 3 as they annihilated Belgium to win 9-0 where the opposition could not even enter 

India’s half. Although they marked Dhyan Chand well, it was Feroze Khan and 

Frederick Seaman whose stick works made Belgian defense hapless with the support 

of others. Next, it was Denmark and they too have to face the fury of the Indian attack 

as the match ended 5-0 with Dhyan Chand scoring 4 although it could have been more 

if not the Danish goalkeeper saved many of them. In the semi final against 

Switzerland, it was another one side affair as India had no problems in wrapping up 

the fixture 6-0 with another hattrick from Dhyan Chand thus setting up a final clash 

with Holland.

It was 26^th May and India was without their captain Jaipal Singh who left the team 

midway disgusted by the simmering discontent due to the Anglo-Indian members of 

the team. Also few others were ill. But despite these issues, India still proved too 

strong for the Dutch as they won the summit clash 3-0 with Dhyan Chand scoring 2 of 

the 3 thus writing a golden chapter in the history of Indian sports by winning its first 

gold medal. The entire nation celebrated this victory. Dhyan Chand became the new 

poster boy of Indian hockey as he finished top scorer with 14 goals in a tournament 

where India conceded 0 goals. Such dominating was the performance that a Dutch 

journalist wrote, “The Indian ball seems ignorant of law of gravity. One of those 

tanned, diabolical jugglers stares at the ball intently; as it gets upright and remains 

suspended in the air. It only proceeds on its way when the player has bestowed an 

approval nod on it.” 

The team which was seen off by only three people was received by thousands of 

people thronging the Bombay port to welcome the new champions. Inspite of the 

sombre mood due to freedom struggle, these 15 men has injected some ecstasy and 

optimism in our countrymen and the whole country applauded them for this wonderful 

gift. 

The Indian Team in the finals of 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Source: Wikipedia

  

Statistics source:
The Hindu, Sportskeeda
Wikipedia

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