"Gopalan one of our team member in 1928 was a high-caste Hindu from the South, where orthodoxy was severe.I will never forget that on our return from New Zealand, Gopalan broke journey at Rameswaram to have a dip in the holy waters to wipe off all the sins he had committed by crossing the seas. Gopalan joined us the next day in Madras after being purified of all sins, and we all had a good joke at his expense."
1928 Indian Olympic Hockey team Goalkeeper: P. C. Bannerjee Backs: Ghazanfar Ali and Hammond Half-Backs: Gurcharan Lal, Grave-Smith and Goodsir-Cullen Forwards: Manek Chand, Marthins, Dhyan Chand, N. N. 'Habul' Mukherjee and Seaman
In 1928 Dhyan Chand was selected to represent the Indian hockey team in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dhyan Chand helped India win the gold medal winning the finals against the Netherlands by a score of 3-0.He played in the centre-forward position and scored two India's three goals.
Before the olympics Indian had a short pre-Olympic trips to Holland, Germany and Belgium which enabled them to get acclimatised to Continental conditions.On May 17 Indian team confidently marched into the stadium to make their Olympic debut Vs Austria, and they defeated Austria by six clear goals.In this match DhyanChand scored FourGoals. In three successive fixtures in the Olympics no goal was scored against India.
The following shows the map to victory in 1928 Olympics:-
May 17th-India Vs Austria. India won by 6-0.
May 18th-India Vs Belgium. India won by 9-0.
May 20th-India Vs Denmark. India won by 5-0.
May 22nd-Semi Final- India Vs Switzerland. India won by 6-0.
May 26th-Fianl-India Vs Holland.India won by 3-0.