National Game
India has conquered the podium when it comes to the
game of Hockey. Our nation has an excellent record with eight Olympic
gold medals. Indian hockey's golden period was from 1928-56, when
the Indian hockey team won six successive Olympic gold medals. Team
also won the 1975 World Cup besides two more medals (silver and a
bronze). The Indian Hockey Federation (External website that opens
in a new window) gained global affiliation in 1927 and joined the
International Hockey Federation (FIH) (External website that opens
in a new window).
Thus began the history of Indian Hockey Federation as India entered
the Olympics to begin its golden saga. The tour was a huge success
with India winning 18 out of the 21 matches and the legendary Dhyan
Chand was the cynosure of all the eyes scoring over 100 goals of
the 192 Indian accounted for. The match began in Amsterdam in 1928
and India went on a winning spree in Los Angeles in 1932 and Berlin
in 1936 and thus bagged a hat-trick of gold medals at the Olympics.
Post Indian Independence; the Indian team achieved another hat-trick
of gold medals at the 1948 London Olympics, 1952 Helsinki Games
and the Melbourne 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.
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