EXCLUSIVE: When Pakistan’s Ali Dara Helped Hockey Wizard Major Dhyan Chand Get Back Rs 13000 After Nearly 40 Years

New Delhi: After Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara won an Olympic gold with the Indian hockey team, little did he know that he would be representing a different country at the Olympics after World War II in 1945. With World War II lasting six years from 1939 to 1945, no Olympic Games were played in 1940 and 1944. Ali Dara, who was also a serving officer in the Indian Army as Dhyan Chand, opted to live in Pakistan after the partition. Notably, the likes of Dhyan Chand, who was Dara’s teammate in 1936 Games, was at the opponent dugout in London during the 1948 Games.

Post-1948 Olympics, Dhyan Chand and Ali Dara never saw each other for 26 years until in 1974 when both met at Indira Gandhi’s bungalow. Despite the big gap, Dhyan Chand and Ali Dara’s bond remained the same as it was the latter, who helped the ‘hockey wizard’ with a long-standing bank matter.

The incident dates back to around 1935 when Dhyan Chand was posted by the Indian Army in Western Frontier in Quetta (now a part of Pakistan). “At the time, whatever salary my father used to get, it was deposited in the bank there. My father stayed in that area for around four to five years. After the partition in 1947, my father’s thirteen thousand rupees in the bank got stuck,” Dhyan Chand’s son Ashok Kumar told India.com in an exclusive interaction on the eve of National Sports Day.

It was a big setback for Dhyan Chand according to his son as he was the sole bread earner of the family at that time. Dhyan Chand wrote several letters to both the governments and also the people in the bank but to no avail. However, it was Ali Dara who came to the rescue after almost 40 years.

“I still remember in 1974, when our All-Asian star team was made by Ali Dara, Dhyan Chand met him at former PM Indira Gandhi’s bungalow,” Ashok recalled. “During that meeting, Dhyan Chand said, “Yaar Daare, jab se main nikla hu, mera fauj ka tankhe us bank mein jama hae, wo aaj tak mujhe nehi mila (Buddy, since the time I came out of that country, my salary from the Army got stuck in the bank and I haven’t received it yet despite several attempts)”.

“I don’t what Ali Dara did back home, but he made sure that Dhyan Chand got his money back in his bank account. It was a great gesture from him and such a big thing for our family,” he added. National Sports Day is observed on August 29 every year to commemorate the birthday of Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.

For the unknown, Ashok is a former hockey international who was known for his exceptional skills and ball control. He scored the winning goal in the final of the 1975 World Cup against Pakistan. It was India’s only hockey World Cup win till date. In 2024, Ashok was awarded the Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.