On Sunday, people across India celebrated National Sports Day in honour of an exceptional talent born in India on August 29, 1905, who gained worldwide glory for his exceptional athletic talent — Major Dhyan Chand.
National Sports Day is observed on August 29, 2021, every year to mark the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand. This day is also observed to spread awareness about the importance of sports and daily activities in everyone's life.
This year is more significant as India's hockey teams (men and women) managed to make quite an impact during the Olympics in Tokyo. Recently, the Khel Ratna award, which was named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was renamed the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. This move came a day after the Indian men's hockey team won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
Indian athletes and sporting fans have, over the years, kept Major Dhyan Chand's name alive. And now, this Khel Ratna award will take that legacy forward. Major Dhyan Chand remains an inspiration and guiding force for millions of aspiring athletes.
Also, Bhavinaben Patel on Sunday became only the second Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics after she signed off with a historic silver following a 0-3 loss to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles table tennis class 4 final here. This further brightened National Sports Day for India.
Today, Indians took to various social media platforms to discuss the importance of sports in our lives. Twitter, especially, saw #NationalSportsDay trending.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
With inputs from Joe Williams.
