India’s relationship with sports is quite an ambiguous affair. On one hand, the country, for most sports, fails to provide good infrastructure and funding, while on the other, Athletes all across the nation still managed to excel at international tournaments with less than basic facilities at their disposal. For a really long time, this country had maintained its fanatic obsession with sports exclusively for cricket. However, over the past few years, the scenario has changed bit by bit, the public paying a considerable amount of attention to other sports like football, hockey, badminton, gymnastics, and wrestling.

The shift in the country’s favor for these different forms of sports is mostly owed to the extraordinary performances delivered by star athletes like Rajyavardhan Singh Rathod, Dipa Karmakar, P V Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Vijender Singh and many more. Even though India is far removed from being able to offer its athletes the applause they deserve, today’s day, 29th August, celebrated as National Sports Day is a celebration and an attempt in the right direction to shower these extraordinary Indians with the honor that they deserve.

29th August marks the birthday of Dhyan Chand Singh, the Indian hockey player who won Olympic gold medals for the country in the years 1928, 1934 and 1936. It is in his honour that this day is celebrated as the National Sports Day in India, every year. This year too, the celebration and honoring commenced as Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his tribute to the hockey legend Dhyan Chand and sent a message to the people of India to prioritise activities related to sports and fitness. Usually, every year on this day the Arjuna and Khel Ratna Awards are held in the presence of the President of India to honour the exceptional athletes of the country. But this year, due to the Asian games, the ceremonies have been postponed to 25th September so that all the Indian athletes can attend it after their return from the tournaments that are currently being held in Indonesia.

Image Credit: Twitter

So far Indian athletes have brought home 9 gold medals, 19 silver medals, and 22 bronze medals this year from the Asian Games. Needless to say, that the country has never been prouder and louder about the dedication and excellence of our athletes as various media outlets keep live reporting the tournament results and actual celebrations, no matter how small scale, are taking place all around the country with every win. Our athletes have finally started to get the recognition that they deserve and here’s hoping that this wheel of success only accelerates its pace with time and the appreciation and assistance from the part of the citizens, as well as the concerned authorities.

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