Dhanraj Pillay was the face of Indian hockey for more than a decade. He played at four Olympics, four World Cups, four Champions Trophies and four Asian Games, a record no other Indian player has matched, and he led India to Asian Games gold in Bangkok in 1998. He grew up in a staff colony in Khadki, near Pune, learning the game with borrowed sticks, and he never lost the fiery style that came with it.
Name: Dhanraj Pillay
Born: 16 July 1968, Khadki, Pune, Maharashtra
Sport: Hockey
Position: Forward
Khadki beginnings
Dhanraj Pillay was born on 16 July 1968 in Khadki, where his father worked at the Ordnance Factory. The family was not well off, and he and his brothers learned hockey on the dusty grounds near their home. His elder brother Ramesh, who played for India, helped him move to Bombay, where he joined Mahindra and Mahindra and made his name in the city’s club hockey.
He made his India debut in 1989. He was small and quick, with very fast hands and feet, and he liked to run at defenders with the ball rather than pass it early.
Four of everything
Pillay played at the Olympics in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, and at the World Cup in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002. At the 1994 World Cup in Sydney he was the only Indian named in the tournament’s World XI. He played four Champions Trophies and four Asian Games, winning silver in 1990 and 1994 and gold in 1998, and the 2003 Asia Cup.
Bangkok 1998
As captain at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Pillay led India to its first Asian Games hockey gold since 1966. India beat South Korea on penalty strokes in the final, and Pillay was the tournament’s top scorer. Soon after, he and several senior players were dropped, which led to a public row with the federation. He came back, and was still in the side for the 2004 Athens Olympics at the age of 36.
Clubs abroad and honours
He played club hockey in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Germany, England and Bangladesh, which was unusual for an Indian player at the time. He received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for 1999-2000 and the Padma Shri in 2000. A biography of him, Forgive Me Amma, by Sundeep Misra, was published in 2007. After retiring he stayed involved in the game through coaching and Hockey India programmes.
Career record and honours
- Olympic appearances: 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
- World Cup appearances: 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002; World XI, Sydney 1994
- Asian Games gold medal (captain): Bangkok 1998
- Asian Games silver medal: Beijing 1990, Hiroshima 1994
- Asia Cup gold medal: Kuala Lumpur 2003
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (1999-2000)
- Padma Shri (2000)
