~Mahak Garg
National Sports Day is celebrated in India on the Birth Anniversary of The Hockey Wizard Major Dhyan Chand Singh. In Hindi, it is called the Rashtriya Khel Divas. It is celebrated on 29th August every year in India to commemorate the contributions and achievements of Major Dhyan Chand in Field Hockey.
Major Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August 1905 in Allahabad. He has won 3 Gold Medals in Olympics for India. In the year 1928, 1932 and 1936. He has scored around 400 goals in his career of 22 years from 1926 to 1948. He learned Hockey from his coach Pankaj Gupta. Major Dhyan Chand retired from Army after the service of 34 years on 29th August 1956 as a Lieutenant and was honoured with the third-highest civilian award i.e is Padma Bhushan. Thereafter, his birthday is celebrated as the National Sports Day in India.
PURPOSE OF CELEBRATION
National Sports Day is celebrated to create awareness about the importance of sports in our lives. On this day, the President of India confers the National Sports Awards, National Adventure Awards, Arjuna Award, Khel Ratna, Dronacharya Award and Dhyan Chand Award to recognise the exceptional achievements of Indian sportspersons. This year (2020), Ravindra Jadeja, Deepa Malik, Bajrang Punia and many other prominent sportspersons who have brought laurels to the country are going to be awarded.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE
Sports play a major role in our lives. They are important to keep us fit be it physically or mentally. Sports also ignite the feeling of team spirit, patriotism, sportsmanship and many more. Looking at the importance of sports and games, the Indian government has launched several schemes to promote the importance of sports in our lives. Some of the schemes are:- Fit India Movement, Khelo India Scheme, Sports Talent Search Portal, National Sports Development Fund, Sports & Games for Persons with Disabilities Scheme and so
PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN SPORTS
According to the above Statistics, female participation in Sports and Olympic games has been increasing. Since 2012 women have been participating in almost all the games. Women made their first debut in the Summer Olympics Games of 1900. At that time, women competed in two games:- Golf and Tennis. In 1904, women also participated in Archery. Then in 1912, Women were also included in Swimming. Up to 1968, 1000 Women participated in the Olympics and by 2016, the number reached up to 5000 which is 45% of the total participants. Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik etc. have won many medals in different sports and brought glory to the country.
INDIA’s ACHIEVEMENTS IN SPORTS
India has many amazing talents in the field of sports. India competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Held in Gold Coast Australia and bagged 26 Golds, 20 Silvers and 20 Bronze Medals. India competed at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia and bagged 15 Gold, 24 Silver and 30 Bronze Medals and there are a lot more to win.
IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS IN STUDENT’s LIFE
Sports play a very important role in the life of a student. It helps to keep them mentally fit which increases their concentration power and also helps to make them mentally tough. It helps to build Confidence which is an important skill and is useful in every aspect of life. It also helps to make them physically fit which protects them from diseases. Sports have a positive influence on physical self-worth, physical self-perception, including body image, that is directly linked to improved self-esteem. It also helps to develop team spirit and cooperation. So, sports play an important role in shaping the life of a student and all the schools must try to teach all the sports to their students according to their interests and must motivate them to excel in it.
Also, National Sports Day must be celebrated in every school to commemorate the contributions and achievements of Indian Sportsmen and women, especially THE HOCKEY MAGICIAN, MAJOR DHYAN CHAND SINGH and to inculcate the feeling of patriotism in them. Students must be taught about different sports and must also be taught about Indian games like Gilli Danda, Hopscotch, Kancha etc. so that students could also learn about the culture of India.
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