Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad (4th from right) with the Indian hockey team during the final of hockey at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Major Dhyan Chand (Standing 3rd from left) Captain of the team.
Vadodara: After thrashing Germany 5-4 at the Tokyo Olympics to win a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, the Indian hockey team and coach got a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked him for his inspirational talk after the semi-final loss.
The coaches told Modi that his words inspired the team to perform well. Exactly 85 years ago in the month of August, the Indian hockey team led by Major Dhyan Chand also needed inspiration when they took on Germany in the final of hockey at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
And, it was Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda State who boosted the morale of the team during halftime. Historian and art curator Chandrashekhar Patil said, “Maharaja Sayajirao went to Germany to watch the Berlin Olympics in 1936. He watched the hockey final between India and Germany from the pavilion of the stadium, where Adolf Hitler was also present.
“In the first half, the Indian team could score just one goal and Sayajirao saw that the players were struggling. So, he decided to meet the players at halftime. Players told him that they are struggling to play properly in shoes as they are used to playing barefoot. Sayajirao had given him shoes to play in the final,” Patil told TOI.
“The king immediately asked them to take off their shoes and play their natural game. The team was a bit nervous while playing against Germany in Germany. Sayajirao spoke to Major Dhyan Chand and the team and asked them to win the finals,” Patil said. Dhyan Chand scored three goals in the second half as India beat Germany 8-1 to claim the gold medal.
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