The best of Indian Hockey

The sport of field hockey fills up quite a few pages in the rich and glorifying parts of Indian history. India has time and again produced legendary hockey players for the world to witness. Dhyan Chand is definitely the first name that comes to mind while speaking about legends, he was nick named ‘the wizard’ for his magical performances on the field. With an unbeaten record of more than 400 goals scored in his international hockey carrier. Dhyan Chand is undoubtedly the best hockey player that ever lived. Such was his excellence that it left the opponents doubting whether his stick was made of wood or not? Another fabulous Indian hockey player is none other than Dhanraj Pillay. He is arguably the best forward in world of hockey till date, best known for his dribbling skills. It was said that Dhanraj Pillay was so quick with the ball that he could penetrate any defence line with players considerably younger to him.  The current flock of players also have massive potential and players like Sandeep Singh, Affan Yousuf and Yuvraj Walmiki seem promising.
 

The Indian men’s field hockey team held the title of the best hockey team in the world for a long period of time. It was an era when India won 6 consecutive gold medals in the Olympics; even today India holds the record of the most successful hockey team in the history of Olympics with 8 gold medals. In the 80s India started to lose grip on the game and is still going through a rough patch. Currently, according to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) ranking system the position of top International Men’s hockey team is held by Australia and in women’s category the title is held by Netherlands, whereas Indian men and women teams are at 8th and 13th position respectively.