Former and current hockey players demand Bharat Ratna for Major Dhyan Chand

Former and current hockey players came together to demand Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, for the legendary Major Dhyan Chand, a week ahead of his 115th birth anniversary.

With National Sports Day approaching, greats such as Gurbux Singh, Harbinder Singh, Ashok Kumar and current player Yuvraj Walmiki took part in a virtual discussion on Saturday to celebrate the life and career of the iconic player.

National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29, on the birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand.

The discussion was part of a digital campaign which was launched by former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, actors Babushaan Mohanty and Rachel White last year to demand 'Bharat Ratna' for Major Dhyan Chand.

"For us Dhyan Chand was God. We were lucky to travel with him to East Africa and Europe



for a month-long tour. It is difficult to find such a nice man and a great player. He was the most complete player ever born," said Gurbux Singh, an Arjuna awardee.

The 85-year-old also shared his experience of being a part of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

"We had lost gold in 1960, so we wanted to get it back. After winning the gold for India, I had tears in my eyes while seeing the tri-colour go up slowly with the national anthem being played in the background. It really made me feel proud of doing something for India," he said.

Talking about Dhyan Chand, Harbinder Singh said, "I have a lot of regards for 'Dada'. I had a best timing of 10.8 in 100m, so I had advantage of speed. He told me that I should keep the ball in front of me as it will help in pick up but I should have control. I practised on it and took it as 'guru mantra'."