India’s Sporting Icons Share Glory Days, Salute Dhyan Chand, Sir Dorabji Tata

India’s Sporting Icons Share Glory Days, Salute Dhyan Chand, Sir Dorabji Tata

When you have luminaries like Gurbux Singh, Ashok Kumar, Dr Vece Paes, his son and Indian tennis great Leander Paes along with one of the world’s finest hockey defenders Dilip Tirkey on a panel, sharing memories of the country’s golden years of sports and key issues for the future, nothing can be a more befitting tribute to the National Sports Day.

On Saturday, the greats were brought together on a webinar by the Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Bhubaneswar to remember the genius of hockey magician Major Dhyan Chand and the visionary Sir Dorabji Tata.

The discussion that followed was anecdotal and took the participants down the memory lane. It was Leander who reminiscing his young days shared how he would snatch the hockey stick from ‘Gurbux uncle,’ watch the rituals of the team, understand the leadership skills from the Olympian. He also made viewers understand how Kumar used to be supremely fit and his hockey bore the rare stamp of ‘physicality’ even back then.

He also spoke of his desire to get into sports education and teach youngsters the value of quality of a healthy life and discipline as well as shared talks about his autobiography, a biopic and even a Netflix series.

Gurbux Singh and Dr Vece Paes recollected their Olympic days at length, need for fitness to become a true champion, psychological side of sports among others. They also observed that national awards must be given to sportspersons who ‘earn” it.

Kumar revealed how he skipped his BCom test in Kota to join Mohan Bagan so that he could play under the wings of Gurbux Singh and Dr Vece Paes. He also shared how his iconic father was a simple man at home despite greatness following him everywhere.

The Olympians became nostalgic as they remembered their lives as players and how times have changed over the years.

Indian hockey’s “Wall” Dilip Tirkey spoke about his young days in Sundargarh and inspiration that he received from some of the greats of Indian hockey like Pargat Singh. Tirkey, now Chairman of Odisha Hockey Promotion Council, also shared how he organized one of the biggest hockey championships in his home district, the contribution of small towns to sports as well as Odisha Government’s leading role in promoting sports.

Farzan Heerjee, Chief Protocol and Sports, Tata Steel spoke about how Sir Dorabji Tata seeded the sporting culture in India and made sports an integral part of the social fabric of Tata Group.

Moderated by Rajiv Seth, Project Director, Naval Tata Hockey Academy, former first-class cricketer and an empanelled BCCI Match Referee and Diksha Tiwari, Senior Associate Editor, My City Links and Communication Head For XEBS Centre of Excellence in Sports Management, the session started with a tribute to Sir Dorabji Tata and Major Dhyan Chand, showing interesting glimpses into their lives.

The session ended with some questions from the students of the girls’ hostel of the academy and the audience. The panellists were not only happy to answer them all, but they also assured to reply to any further questions that would be sent to them through the academy from hockey fans!