Words fall short when we talk about Indian Hockey and its history. Roots of Indian Hockey has been great and huge. Being a national sport, it got the immense love from not just the country people but from all over the world.
The craze & love for Hockey began to grow and expand as many players in India got dedicated for the game but some of them raised as legends and did those miracles which made the team and country proud.
The name of these Hockey legends has been written with the golden words and forever in history and still remembered. In this list, comes the name of Dhyanchand who is referrd to be the greatest player of Hockey, and some other players also follow the list like Roop Singh and Balbir Singh Sr.
But on the other hand, there are also few legendary players who devoted themselves for the game, won many achievements and made the country proud, but they are forgotten now. Let us share the list:-
1. Mohammed Shahid:- Born in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Mohammad was considered to be one of the great players in Indian Hockey, and will exceptionally well throughout his career with having outstanding dribbling skills. He was the member of gold medal winning Indian team of 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Being such a great player of the country Shahid went from the financial crysis and did not even had the funds for his treatment at his time of death.
2. Leslie Claudius:- Leslie Claudius belonged from Bilaspur. He won 4 Olympic medals in Hockey and captained the team in 1960 in which he won a silver medal of those 4. He also captained the Indian team with dhyanchand for first time in 1959. But, in his late ages, he suffered from a cirrhosis of liver and died because of it. Leslie is not remembered that much and is not not that popular in nower times, the way he deserves to be.
3. Shankar Laxman:- Shankar Laxman served as a goalkeeper for Indian Hockey team and also was the first goalkeeper to become the captain of the international hockey team. While, contributing a lot to the hockey and winning as many acheivements, he still suffered from bad times in his late ages. He suffered from a disease named gangrene and he could not get the treatment due to lack of funds. Hockey authorities also refused to help him financially and this lead to his death.
4. Keshav Dutt:- Keshav was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1925. He played as a halfback, while playing 22 international games for India in his career, he scored 2 goals. He was the part of the Olympic gold medallist team India and contributed a lot to the game. But he is still not remembered the way he dedicated and achieved heights in his carrier.
5. Rupinder Pal Singh:- Born in Faridkot, he is one of the best drag flickers in the country and played 223 matches for India. He was the part of Indian Hockey team that won the bronze medal in Tokyo Olympics. But recently he took the retirement from his international career as, they were not getting place in India’s scheme of things and were also be ignored for the national campaign which led to such decisions of the great player.
Due to lack of funds, these of some great players suffered from the financial crysis, didn’t got that fame and facilities and are not remembered in nower times. Just they played for the country and sports spirit.
