After the gold at the Asian Games in Bangkok, he came back to his hometown, to a thumping welcome from relatives, close friends and fans, all the way from the airport to his residence in Khadki.

His next goal- making it to the Sydney Olympics in Y2k. "The 50-odd days work-out in Bangalore and the determination has been fruitful. It has put vigour into me,'' says Dhanraj who has been in and out of the team twice before he made it to the Asian Games.

``Yes. There has been a lot of criticism. But at Bangkok, I gave my best,'' adds Dhanraj referring to being adjudged the player of the tournament.``I had told my parents long before leaving for Bangkok, that this being my last Asian Games appearance, if we don't win the gold medal I will retire. But the success changed my decision. I have no complaints against anybody after the poor showing atthe World Cup. Keeping in mind that this will be my last Asiad, I went all out and it has paid off well,'' said the man who scored eleven goals in the championship.

He was at a loss of words to express his happiness when he met family. His mother, brothers Ganesh, Ramesh, Vijay and sister Sunita besides his sister-in-law Kavita were all there to participate in his moment of glory. All he could manage to say ``I'm happy to be back home.''

Memories at the Queen Sirikit artificial surface (astro turf) in Bangkok are still afresh.

He elaborates,``The most thrilling moment in my life was when Mukesh Kumar scored the goal (the tie breaker) and the gold was ours.''

``Mereku samaj me nahi aa raha tha mai kya karu (I did not know what to do). So was the entire team. We were in a foreign land and did not know where to go. It took some time to sink and only then did we celebrate.

Everyone was surprised, as not even the overall victorious Chinese team were as jubilant as we were''.

Dhanraj describesthe win as a team effort when he says, ``We worked hard and we played well as a team after many years which paid dividends.''He has no immediate plans of switching jobs, but is confident that his employer (Mahindras) will consider shaping a hockey team.

Leaving the Mahindras for other offers is the last thing on his mind. ``I have offers from the Tatas, Calcutta Customs, Indian Airlines. But for the past five years my employers have taken good care of me in my hard days, which I cannot forget. I'm sure they will strongly consider having a hockey team and more so with the presence of the Indian captain, I'm optimistic that they will do something for the game.''

This victory has resurrected the hockey team from the doldrums and chances of finance flowing in from corporates and multi-nationals are bright. ``Now it is left up to the concerned authorities to go about preparing for the Sydney Olympics.''

Hike in monetary incentives, cash prizes for the team events going up from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh and alot more continue to pour in -- a positive sign that hockey is the national game.

Dhanraj is confident that he will play the Pakistan series. Later in February he plans to play for Italy or Bangladesh, a two-month stint, then rejoin the Indian team for the Olympics.