Every year India observes National Sports Day August 29, which coincides with the birthday of legendary hockey player Dhyan Chand Singh who brought glory to the nation by winning three Olympics gold medals.
India has honoured him by making his birthday as National Sports Day as a tribute to his accomplishments. On this day, the country honours the sports personalities who have made the nation proud with their achievements.
To make this day even more noteworthy, the Rashtriya Bhawan organizes a Special Award Ceremony in honor of the sporting personalities. The President of India takes over the prestigious awards like the Arjuna Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Dronacharya Award to the various sports persons who have achieved excellence in their respective fields that year.
The Arjuna Awards are given by the Government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in sports. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 500,000, a bronze statue of Arjuna and a scroll. A large number of sports persons who belonged to the pre-Arjuna Award era were also included.
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, in Sports and Games, is the highest sporting honor award, named after former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, who served the office from 1984 to 1989. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The awardees are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured for their spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years’ at international level.
The Dronacharya Award, is given for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, and is named after Drona, often referred as ‘Guru Drona’, a character from the great epic Mahabharata. He was a master of advanced military warfare and was appointed as the royal preceptor to the Kauravas and the Pandavas for their training in military arts. It is awarded annually and the recipients are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry and are honoured to have done outstanding and meritorious work on a consistent basis and enabled sportspersons to excel in international events over a period of four years.
PNN
