National Sports Day celebrated on 29 August

National Sports Day: 29 August

National Sports Day was celebrated on the 29 August 2015 across the country. The day is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of hockey player Dhyan Chand.

On this occasion, President Pranab Mukherjee conferred National Sports and Adventure Awards in New Delhi.

Winners of National Sports and Adventure Awards 2015
• Sania Mirza (Tennis) was conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. The prestigious award was won by shooter Ronjan Sodhi in 2014.
• Naval Singh (athletics-para-sports), Anoop singh (wrestling), Harbans Singh (athletics-lifetime), Swatantar Raj Singh (Boxing-life time) and Nihar Ameen (Swimming-lifetime) were the winners of Dronacharaya Awards.
• Seventeen people were conferred with Arjuna Awards including Sandeep Kumar (archery), Rohit Sharma (cricket), Jitu Rai (Shooting) and Babita Kumari (wrestling).
• Romeo James (hockey), Shiv Prakash Mishra (tennis) and TPP Nair (volleyboll) were conferred with Dhyan Chand Awards.
• Five sports persons were conferred with Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.
• Punjabi University, Patiala was conferred with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy.
• Four organizations received Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Purushkar for encouraging sports and sports persons.

About Major Dhyan Chand – The Hockey Wizard

Major Dhyan Chand was India’s greatest hockey player. He has scored over 1000 goals between 1926 and 1948. He helped India win 3 Olympic Gold medals including the first in 1928 (Amsterdum Olympic games) and then in 1932 ( Los Angeles Olympic games) and 1936 (Berlin Olympic games).

He became synonymous with hockey. He became the parameter of hockey by which other player’s caliber is measured. It is surprising to know that Dhyan Chand, who came to be known as Hockey Magician, started playing hockey only after joining the Army at the age of 16.

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