National Sports Day 2019
The National Sports Day in India is celebrated on 29 August, on the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand . This day marks the birthday of Major Dhyan Chand Singh, the hockey player who won gold medals in Olympics for India in the years 1928, 1932 and 1936. He scored over 400 goals in his career, from 1926 to 1948.
After putting his stamp on international hockey arena, and having served his country to reach its pinnacles of glory multiple times. He is a legendary figure in the Indian and world hockey. The most noted memorials for him is the Major Dhyan Chand Award ,the highest award for lifetime achievement in sports and games in India , and the National Sport day celebrations on his birthday. Major Dhyan Chand learnt the game of hockey from his coach Pankaj Gupta.There is no who has reached his level in hockey.
Every year President of India honours some sportsmen and sportswomen for their excellent work in sports by awards like Dronacharya Award, Arjuna Award, Khel Ratna, Dhyanchand Award.
The Award Winners for 2019 are:-
Khel Ratna: Deepa Malik (para-athletics), Bajrang Punia (wrestling)
Arjuna Award: Ravindra Jadeja (cricket), Mohammed Anas Yahiya (athletics), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (football), Sonia Lather (boxing), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (hockey), S Bhaskaran (bodybuilding), Ajay Thakur (kabaddi), Anjum Moudgil (shooting), Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth (badminton), Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (athletics), Pramod Bhagat (para sports-badminton), Harmeet Rajul Desai (table tennis), Pooja Dhanda (wrestling), Fouaad Mirza (equestrian), Simran Singh Shergill (polo), Poonam Yadav (cricket), Swapna Burman (athletics), Sundar Singh Gurjar (para sports-athletics) and Gaurav Singh Gill (motorsports).
Dronacharya Award (regular category): Mohinder Singh Dhillon (athletics), Sandeep Gupta (table tennis) and Vimal Kumar (badminton).
Dronacharya Award (lifetime category): Sanjay Bhardwaj (cricket), Rambir Singh Khokar (kabaddi) and Mezban Patel (hockey).
Dhyan Chand Award: Manoj Kumar (wrestling), C Lalremsanga (archery), Arup Basak (table tennis), Nitten Kirrtane (tennis) and Manuel Fredricks (hockey).
