Dhyan Chand Age, Death Cause, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Real Name	Dhyan Singh
Nickname(s)	The Wizard, Hockey Wizard, Chand (Hindi for The Moon)
Profession	Indian Hockey player
Famous For	World's Greatest Field Hockey Player
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1. 7 m in feet inches- 5’ 7”
Weight (approx.)	in kilograms- 70 kg in pounds- 154 lbs
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	Black
Field Hockey
International Debut	New Zealand Tour (April 1926)
Domestic/State Team	Jhansi Heroes
Nature on field	Energetic
Coach/Mentor	Subedar-Major Bhole Tiwari (First Mentor) Pankaj Gupta (First Coach)
Favourite Match Played	The 1933 Beighton Cup final between Calcutta Customs and Jhansi Heroes
Records (main ones)	• He has scored around 1000 goals in his career, out of which 400 were in International Matches. • He has 3 olympic gold medals to his credit. • He was the leading goal-scorer at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics with 14 goals and also in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. • In the 1935 tour of New Zealand and Australia, Dhyan Chand scored a massive 201 goals in just 43 matches, a world record.
Awards, Honours, Achievements	• Won the gold medals in the 1928, 1932 and the 1936 Olympic Games • He was also awarded Padma Bhushan in 1955
Army
Service/Branch	British Indian Army Indian Army
Service-Years	1921–1956
Unit	Punjab Regiment
Joined Army As	Sepoy (in 1922)
Retired As	Major (in 1956)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	29 August 1905
Birthplace	Allahabad, United Provinces, British India
Date of Death	3 December 1979
Place of Death	Delhi, India
Age (at the time of death)	74 Years
Death Cause	Liver Cancer
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Virgo
Nationality	Indian
Educational Qualification	6th class
Hometown	Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Religion	Hindu
Caste	Rajput
Food Habit	Non-Vegetarian
Signature
Hobbies	Cooking, Hunting, Fishing, Photography, Playing Billiards, Cricket and Carrom
Controversy	Once, when in the Netherlands, the authorities wanted to check if there was a magnet inside his stick and hence broke his hockey stick
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	1936
Family
Wife/Spouse	Janaki Devi
Children	Son(s)- Brij Mohan, Sohan Singh, Raj Kumar, Ashok Kumar (Hockey Player), Umesh Kumar, Devinder Singh, Virender Singh Daughter- None
Parents	Father- Subedar Sameshwar Dutt Singh (Subedar in Army) Mother- Sharadha Singh
Siblings	Brother- Mool Singh (Hawaldar) Roop Singh (Hockey Player) Sister- None
Favourite Things
Favourite Food(s)	Mutton and Fish Dishes
Favourite Dessert	Halwa dripping with ghee
Favourite Drink	Milk

Some Lesser Known Facts About Dhyan Chand

Dhyan Chand is considered the greatest player in the history of Hockey, famously known as the “Wizard of Hockey” or in Hindi as “Hockey Ka Jadugar.”

Dhyan Chand had no serious inclination towards sports as a child. Though he used to indulge in casual games with friends. In fact, he did not play field Hockey until he joined the army.

He had to quit school after class 6th as his father was in the army and the family had to shift frequently because of the transfers.

Once when Dhyan Chand was 14 years old, he accompanied his father to watch a hockey match. Watching a team lose by 2 goals, Chand asked his father wether he could play from the losing side. His father agreed, and Dhyan Chand scored four goals in that match. Watching his performance, the Army officials were so impressed, and he was offered to join the army.

He joined the British Indian Army as a sepoy in 1921, at the age of 16.

Dhyan Chand’s real name was Dhyan Singh. The “Chand” in his name literally means “The Moon” as he used to practice a lot at night. He was given this name by his first coach Pankaj Gupta.

He played his first National match in 1925, and by his performance in that match, he was selected for the Indian National Team.

He scored a hattrick in his International Debut match.

In the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Olympics, he was the highest goal scorer of the tournament, scoring 14 goals in 5 matches. Since then he started to be known as The Hockey Wizard.

India again won the tournament and a gold in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

India played 37 matches in a world tour that followed the Olympics to recover their expenses. They won 34, drawing 2 and one match being canceled. Dhyan Chand alone scored 133 goals out of India’s 338.

Dhyan Chand was appointed the captain of the team in December 1934.

In 1935 the cricketing legend Don Bradman witnessed his first ever hockey match in which Dhyan Chand was playing. He was so impressed that he complimented Dhyan Chand by saying, ” You score goals like runs in cricket.”

In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Dhyan Chand was again the top scorer and India won the gold yet another time.

It is said that even Adolf Hitler was impressed by Dhyan Chand’s game so much so that he offered him the Field Marshal position in the German Army.

Dhyan Chand was chosen the captain of the Indian team in 1947 for a series of matches. Chand, though now in his forties, still managed to score 61 goals in 22 matches.

He played his final international match in 1948.

Dhyan Chand was not able to score a goal against the opposition in one of the matches. He then argued with the match referee about the measurement of the goal post and his claim turned out to be true. It was found that it did not comply with the official width of a goal post according to international rules.