Arjuna Awardees in Hockey

Hockey is considered to be one of the most popular sports in India after cricket, owing to its resemblance to a similar sport, which was played in ancient India. Hockey is also known as national game of India because the mythological Hindu avatar Lord Sri Krishna used to play the similar sport with a stick and a ball made of wood in Vrindavan in his childhood.

The modern hockey in its present form was played in Europe and it was brought to India during the 19th century, when the colonial rulers and British Army regiments used to play it in their leisure time. The game of hockey received an early recognition by the masses in India and various state and national hockey associations were formed. The leading body, which administers the game of hockey in India, is Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). IHF manages the sport of hockey through various state hockey associations spread all over India.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOS) has constituted a national selection committee that would look after and manage the activities of Indian hockey. The committee comprises of five members and it works in association with International Field Hockey Federation. So the major governing bodies of Indian hockey includes, the national selection committee, state hockey associations, IHF and a few hockey academies such as Dhanraj Ballal Hockey Academy etc. All of these bodies have a common task to identify and nurture the emerging talents in Indian hockey.

The Indian national team is the pride of nation as it has brought honor to the country several times by winning numerous international trophies and competitions. Indian hockey team was considered to be a formidable team in international arena in the first half of 20th century. The period between 1928 and 1956 can be called a glorious era of Indian hockey, when Indian men's hockey team won six Olympics gold medals in a row.

The Indian women's hockey team is also not far behind as it has brought home three gold medals in different international events between 2002 and 2004 recently. But these are not the only two hockey teams of India, there are lots of other teams such as national senior hockey team, national junior hockey team and Indian state hockey teams, apart from many services teams and club teams.

All these teams work very hard to contribute to raise the standard of Indian hockey. Not only are there frequent interstate hockey competitions, but there are also many national level tournaments, which encourage the young talents to exhibit their skills and to provide them an opportunity to represent India as part of the Indian national hockey team. The newest and most interesting feature of Indian hockey is the Premier Hockey League (PHL), which has been introduced recently to raise its standards further.

Among the many performers of Indian hockey, who have got recognition and praise at international level for their skills, speed, flexibility and techniques, Major Dhyan Chand enjoy a prestigious position. He represented the Indian hockey team in 1928, in the Amsterdam Olympics. He played an instrumental role, when India won gold medal in three successive Olympics games viz Amsterdam, Los Angles and Berlin in 1928, 1932 and 1936 respectively. During the Berlin Olympics, he led the winning Indian team as captain. He was also a performer of extraordinary talent and he scored one hundred and one goal in different Olympic events and three hundred goals in other international competitions. He was also called the 'Hockey Wizard' of India. During Amsterdam Olympics Indian team scored a total of twenty eight goals out of which eleven were scored by the 'hockey wizard,' Dhyan Chand.

Arjuna awardees in hockey from 1961 are as follows:

Year	Name
1961	P. Singh
1961	A Lumsden
1963	C Singh
1964	S. Laxman
1965	U Singh
1965	E. Britto
1966	V. J. Peter
1966	S Puri
1966	G Singh
1967	H Singh
1967	M Lal
1968	B S Kular
1970	A P Singh
1971	P. Krishnamurthy
1972	M Kindo
1973	M. P. Ganesh
1973	O. Mascarenhas
1974	A Kumar
1974	A. Kaur
1975	B. P. Govinda
1975	R. Saini
1977-78	Capt. H Singh
1977-78	L. L. Fernandes
1979-80	V Baskaran
1979-80	R. B. Mundphan
1980-81	Mohammed Shahid
1980-81	E Nelson
1981	V Soni
1983	Zafar Iqbal
1984	R Kaur
1984	S. Maney
1985	P M Sonir
1985	M. M. Somaya
1986	J.M. Carvalho
1988	M. P. Singh
1989	P Singh
1990	J Singh
1992	M Fernandes
1994	J F Sabastain
1995	D Pillai
1995	M Kumar
1996	A. B. Subbaiah
1996	A K Ballal
1997	H Singh
1997	S S Sodhi
1997	R Singh
1998	S. S Singh
1998	P R Siwach
1998	B. S. Dhillon
1998	S. O Kumari
1998	Mohammed Riaz
1998	B Singh
1998	M K Kaushik
1999	B S Kullar
1998	Lt. Col. H Kaushik
1998	R Singh
1998	V. J. Phillips
2000	B S Saini
2000	T Chanu
2000	Capt. R. S. Bhola
2000	B Singh
2000	J Rizvi
2000	M Yadav
2002	D Tirkey
2002	G A Singh
2002	M Kharab
2003	D Chauhan
2003	S L Devi
2004	D Thakur
2004	I H Mary
2005	V Rasquinha
2006	J S Kullu
2008	P Singh
2009	S Kaur
2009	I Tirkey
2010	J K Handa
2011	R Singh
2012	S Singh

Last Updated on 09/12/2012