Watching the Prime Ministers of India and New Zealand reminisce about his father, hockey legend Dhyan Chand, Ashok Kumar’s coronary heart swelled with satisfaction.
“Duniya mein faujein banti hai goliyan chalane ke liye. Lekin Indian military wahan gayi, aur purpose se duniya ko chamatkar dikhaya,” he advised The Indian Specific. “I really feel proud {that a} crew of Armymen, and a humble soldier in that crew, did one thing so exceptional that even after 100 years, the Prime Ministers are speaking about it, and it nonetheless connects folks from each nations.”
A century after that Indian Military contingent crossed the seas and left New Zealand spellbound with their artistry, these echoes discovered their method into the very best places of work.
On Saturday in Auckland, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, paid tribute to the landmark 1926 tour that launched New Zealand to the genius of Dhyan Chand. “100 years in the past, our hockey crew created historical past by coming right here,” Modi stated. “It evokes our sporting partnership even as we speak.”
Hockey India secretary-general Bhola Nath Singh known as the second “a matter of immense satisfaction”. Modi additionally introduced that the centenary celebrations would proceed by way of the yr. India’s cricket crew will tour New Zealand in November, whereas the boys’s soccer crew will play two friendlies—on November 12 in Auckland and November 15 in Christchurch.
The celebrations marked excess of the centenary of a hockey tour. They commemorated the start of India’s worldwide hockey journey and New Zealand’s first glimpse of a younger Military sepoy who would go on to change into the game’s best icon.
A century in the past, hockey laid the muse for an enduring friendship. 🇮🇳🤝🇳🇿
Throughout his ongoing go to to New Zealand, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi highlighted how the historic 1926 Indian Military Hockey Group’s tour of New Zealand, which included the legendary Main Dhyan… pic.twitter.com/cs6uXdiJeE
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 11, 2026
The New Zealand Herald’s first impression of Dhyan Chand was this: “4 of the targets got here from the stick of Dhyan Chand, a slightly-built youth, who performed a exceptional sport at centre-forward. His stick work and management of the ball had been well-nigh good, and though he was an excellent individualist he at all times knew when to go the ball.”
Reporting on an unofficial warm-up match towards a New Zealand Navy facet in Auckland on Might 13, 1926, the newspaper – cited by the web site stick2hockey.com – marvelled at a participant whose artistry had left spectators spellbound.
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Lengthy earlier than he turned the ‘Wizard of Hockey’, Dhyan Chand was merely a soldier from the Indian Military introducing himself to a brand new nation.
The tour itself had been nearly two years within the making. Discussions between the New Zealand Hockey Affiliation and the Military Sports activities Management Board started in late 1924, culminating in a proper invitation to the Indian Military in early 1925.
Following trials in Lahore, the first-ever Indian hockey crew was chosen. Captain David Tennant Cowan led the 17-member squad – 4 British officers, one Sikh officer and 12 Indian troopers – which sailed from Calcutta on April 11, 1926, embarking on a month-long voyage throughout the Indian Ocean and the Tasman Sea, Ashok Kumar stated.
Each cease turned one other exhibition. The crew defeated sides in Sri Lanka and Australia earlier than arriving in Auckland on Might 11, the place anticipation had reached fever pitch. The unofficial opener towards the Navy facet at Remuera solely heightened the thrill. India received 11-1, with Dhyan Chand scoring 4 instances, justifying the lavish reward that appeared within the subsequent morning’s newspapers.
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Six weeks later got here a fair greater milestone. On June 26, 1926, India performed its first official worldwide at Lancaster Park in Christchurch earlier than almost 14,000 spectators, in accordance with stick2hockey.com.
Carrying pink shirts, white shorts and pink socks, India defeated New Zealand 5-2. Dhyan Chand scored a hat-trick, together with the primary purpose ever registered by an Indian crew in worldwide hockey. It marked the start of India’s worldwide hockey journey – and the arrival of the participant who would quickly change into its best icon.
If the centenary celebrations in Auckland had been proof that the tour nonetheless resonates, its affect extends far past diplomatic symbolism. Peter Miskimmin, the New Zealand authorities’s head of sports activities diplomacy, sees the centenary as a platform to deepen ties between the 2 international locations. “Sport is part of the free commerce settlement,” he advised *The Indian Specific*. “There are pursuits from New Zealand and India to share, study and collaborate on sport.”
For Miskimmin, the connection can also be private. His grandfather, Havilah Down, refereed India’s first official worldwide in Christchurch.
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“The message went round about these wizards from India who had been so intelligent,” he recalled. “In the long run, I believe that they had scheduled solely two matches, and so they added a 3rd one. Primarily as a result of there was an enormous demand from the general public.”
The fascination solely grew. The second Check in Auckland attracted greater than 18,000 spectators, whereas over 25,000 packed Eden Park for the third, which ended 1-1.
“There weren’t any grandstands, simply the embankments,” Miskimmin stated. “That tour had a big impact on New Zealand. India returned a number of instances by way of the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, and its fashion of brief passing, tempo and ball management profoundly influenced the crew that finally received Olympic gold in 1976.”
Many years later, when India returned to New Zealand in 2009, Dhyan Chand’s son, Ashok Kumar, was the crew’s supervisor. At a stadium in Wellington, an aged man approached him. As a boy, he had watched Dhyan Chand play throughout India’s 1935 tour.
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“He was in his late 80s and learnt that Ashok bhai was the Dhyan Chand’s son,” recalled Romeo James, then India’s assistant coach. “He advised Ashok bhai, ‘I’ll present you a hockey stick your father gifted me.’”
The following day, he returned with the stick, rigorously preserved in a body. “Ashok bhai requested if he might have it,” James stated. “He smiled and replied, ‘Although chances are you’ll be his son, I can’t give it to you. It was given to me by one of many best gamers on the planet.’”
Ashok Kumar nonetheless will get emotional recounting the story. “It exhibits the love folks had for him.”
For a tour that started with a younger Military sepoy introducing himself to the world, there might scarcely have been a better tribute
