While the Sports Minsiters marks August 29 with a token visit, the Dhyan Chand Foundation is using its own resources to organise hockey and other activities, keeping alive a tradition that once brought India’s sporting and political establishment together.
BY PC Bureau
NEW DELHI/ August 30: There was a time when August 29 was one of the most important dates on India’s sporting calendar.
National Sports Day, marking the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, once brought together the country’s sporting greats, politicians and administrators under the imposing roof of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The day was not merely an occasion to remember one of India’s greatest athletes; it was a national celebration of sport.
The Arjuna Awards were traditionally presented on the occasion, with the President of India honouring athletes in a ceremony that gave the day a stature unmatched by most sporting events on the calendar.
Over the years, however, the significance of National Sports Day appears to have steadily diminished.
What was once a major national sporting occasion has increasingly become a formal annual remembrance. This year, the Sports Minister’s programme amounted largely to a customary visit to the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium at India Gate . Beyond the official observance, there was little to suggest that the birth anniversary of the man regarded as India’s greatest hockey player was being marked as a major national sporting occasion.
The irony is difficult to miss: the stadium named after Dhyan Chand itself offers a stark reminder of how his legacy has been allowed to fade into the background.
Go beyond the stands and the main buildings, and the complex is hardly a picture of sporting pride. The commentary box is in poor condition. Paint has peeled away from the lettering above it, where the name of Dhyan Chand is now visibly incomplete.
It reads “Dhyanchan”.
Several stands and areas outside the playing arenas also show signs of neglect.
For the family of Major Dhyan Chand, the situation is particularly painful.
With little institutional fanfare around the day, the Dhyan Chand Foundation — associated with his son and former Olympian Ashok Kumar and grandson Gaurav Dhyan Chand — has drawn on its own resources to organise a hockey match and other activities at the National Stadium.
The effort is modest compared with the national celebrations that once accompanied the day, but it serves as a reminder of what National Sports Day was intended to represent.
“It is sad to see how Major Dhyan Chand’s legacy has been treated,” Gaurav Dhyan Chand said.
“No sporting function is held on the day. Nothing is done other than a formal remembrance. Gone are the days when sports awards were distributed on the day and the high and mighty of sports and politics used to come together to commemorate the occasion.”
HITLER TRIED TO RECRUIT HIM. HE SAID NO.
Thats #MajorDhyanChand 🔥🇮🇳
Dhyan Singh joined the British Indian Army at 16. Barely knew what hockey was.
But every night, after duty hours, while everyone rested — he was out on the field. Alone. Stick in hand. His army mates could… pic.twitter.com/SNwXE4F84g
— Rajat Jain (@RajatJain) August 29, 2026
That change is more than ceremonial.
For decades, the birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand was an opportunity for India to celebrate sporting achievement collectively. The Arjuna Awards ceremony gave athletes recognition on a national stage and brought together generations of sportspersons. The presence of the President and senior political leadership elevated the occasion beyond an official calendar event.
Today, the symbolism remains, but much of the substance appears to have disappeared.
The irony is that Dhyan Chand’s name has never been more widely used. India’s national sports award for outstanding sporting performance is named after him. The national stadium in Delhi carries his name. His birthday is officially recognised as National Sports Day.
Yet the physical and ceremonial treatment of his legacy tells another story.
There is something especially jarring about seeing the name of Dhyan Chand itself damaged on the building that bears his name. For a player whose mastery of the hockey stick became part of Indian sporting folklore, the incomplete name is an almost accidental metaphor for the state of remembrance surrounding him.
Dhyan Chand remains one of the defining figures of Indian sport. His Olympic record — three gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936 — helped establish India’s dominance in world hockey during the sport’s golden era. His extraordinary goal-scoring ability earned him the sobriquet “The Wizard”.
But National Sports Day was never meant simply to celebrate Dhyan Chand.
It was also meant to remind the country of the value of sport and the people who built India’s sporting tradition.
That broader purpose appears to have weakened.
The shrinking scale of the August 29 observance also comes at a time when India is investing heavily in sports infrastructure, international competitions and ambitions of becoming a major sporting nation. The country speaks increasingly about Olympic medals, sporting excellence and developing a sporting culture.
Yet a sporting culture is not created only through stadiums, budgets and medal targets. It is also created through memory — by remembering the athletes who established the country’s sporting identity and by giving sport a place in the national imagination.
The Dhyan Chand Foundation’s decision to organise its own programme at the stadium therefore carries a significance beyond the hockey match itself.
It is, in a sense, an attempt by the family to keep alive an occasion whose institutional importance has steadily diminished.
There was a time when National Sports Day meant the country’s sporting establishment gathered to celebrate sport. Today, it risks becoming another date on the official calendar — marked, observed and then forgotten.
And at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, where the great hockey player’s name is literally peeling away from the wall, the symbolism could hardly be more stark.
A nation that wants to build a sporting future cannot afford to become casual about the people who built its sporting past
