Dhanraj Pillay

 Some Lesser Known Facts About Dhanraj Pillay

• Does Dhanraj Pillay smoke?: Not Known

• Does Dhanraj Pillay drink alcohol?: Not Known

• Dhanraj Pillay was born in a poor family, and he spent his childhood in the Ordnance Factory Staff Colony where his father was a groundsman. 

• As a child, he used to play Hockey on the muddy surface with broken sticks and discarded hockey balls.

• Dhanraj Pillay’s elder brother Ramesh Pillay was also a Hockey player who used to play for RCF in the Mumbai League.

• He went to Mumbai in his youth and with the guidance of his brother Ramesh, Dhanraj turned into a good striker and was introduced to the professional Hockey.

• Dhanraj played in the Junior National Hockey Tournament held in Manipur at the age of 17 years and further played the Sanjay Gandhi Tournament (1987) held in Delhi.

• In 1988, he played his first National Hockey Tournament in Delhi.

• He impressed everyone by his game and was invited by the famous Hockey player and coach Joquim Carvalho to come and play for Mahindra & Mahindra in Mumbai. 

• Dhanraj Pillay made his International Hockey debut in the Allwyn Asia Cup Hockey tournament held at New Delhi in 1989; his first match was against China on 20 December 1989.

• Pillay also holds the record of being the only Hockey player who has played in 4 Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004), 4 World Cup Tournaments (1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002), 4 Champions Trophy Tournaments (1995, 1996, 2002 and 2003), and 4 Asian Games (1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002).

• He was made the Captain of the Indian Hockey team and under his captaincy, India won the Asian Games (1998), where he was the top goal scorer and also the Asia Cup (2003).

• Pillay was also the only Indian player to be included in the World Eleven Team at Sydney World Cup (1994).

• In his career spanning from 1989-2004, he played 339 matches and scored around 170 goals.

• Dhanraj Pillay played his last match in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

• His biography called “Forgive Me Amma” came out in 2007. In the book, he has expressed his sadness about not being able to win a gold in the Olympics and asked forgiveness from his mother. 

• Pillay started his political career by joining the Aam Aadmi Party in February 2014.

• He is also the proud recipient of Arjun Award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, and Padma Shri. 

• He is fluent in Marathi, Tamil (his mother tongue), Hindi, and English.