Hockey in India

Hockey in India

Amongst most of the sports that is being played these days Hockey is one of the favorite of all. In the general sense it is a kind of sport in which two teams compete by trying to maneuver the ball into the opponent's nest using a hockey stick. However, games like hockey have been played in almost every populated region in the globe from Ancient Greece to North America. Hockey has also been played in the ancient times in both foot and in horseback. However, these days playing hockey while sitting on the horse is called the game of Polo. There are many types of hockey like field hockey, ice hockey, roller hockey (online) and roller hockey (quad). However, the most famous form of hockey is the Field hockey. This type of hockey is played on gravel or natural grass with a small hard ball. Nowadays it is played on a special type of artificial surface known as the astro turf.

History of Hockey in India

Hockey in India became popular with the coming of the British. It was when the British army regiments played the game; the Indian regiments also picked up the game and then followed the tradition of playing the game of hockey. Then gradually this game was adopted by the masses. Hockey in India saw its first ever in house hockey club in Calcutta, which was formed in the year 1885-86. Then followed the formation of hockey clubs in Bombay and Punjab. Slowly and gradually this game gained its importance amongst the masses and more and more people started playing it.

The Golden Years

Hockey in India has a very glorious past. The golden era of Indian hockey was in between the period from 1928 to 1956. In between this period India won six consecutive gold medals in the Olympic games. During that era India played a total of 24 Olympic matches and won all the 24 matches. It scored a massive number of 178 goals and conceded only seven. There were some legendary players in the history of Hockey in India. Amongst them some were Dhyan Chand, K.D. Singh, Dhanraj Pillay and Dilip Tirkey. Dhyan Chand was the most legendary amongst all and he was known as the magician of hockey. All these legendary players geared the position of India in the field of hockey to new heights.

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