Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on Wednesday, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to officially notify hockey as national game of India and this, Former Indian Hockey Team Captain Dilip Tirkey believes, was a much-needed initiative.
“I appreciate our CM for having researched so well and bringing to light that Hockey is not yet the national sport officially. If you check facts, you’ll realize an RTI filed in 2012 had revealed the same. People’s misconception had the sport taken for granted, when hockey actually brought laurels to the country in the past,” the former Rajya Sabha member said.
Vice President of Odisha Sports Journalist Association, Sambit Mohapatra also applauded Naveen’s intiative because he thinks, hockey needs a lot of support right now. “Our Chief Minister’s timing is excellent. Year 2018 is very crucial for Indian hockey as all major games will be held. From June 23, Champions Trophy will start in Breda. In August, there’s Asian Games in Jakarta, which is important for India to win to get into Olympics in 2020. London Women’s World cup and World Hockey Cup is also happening this year, for which they need a lot of moral boosting,” he added.
According to him, if government declares hockey as national game now, all these players will get the much-needed push and encouragement. “We might also have more youngsters joining this sport. Especially, from traditional centres like Jhansi, Hyderabad and Mumbai from where we have great players like Dhyan Chand. These centres will also get a new lease of life,” he said.
India has been one of the most important reasons why Hockey exists in the world today, Dilip added. “In 1908, Hockey was included in the Olympics as a sport. However, it was excluded from 1924 Paris Olympics for lack of popularity,” he informed.
Sambit further said, Dhyan Chand had been to New Zealand in 1926 to play various hockey matches for British Indian Army Team. “He played so well that all European countries wrote about him and the sport in newspapers. Thus, in 1928, Hockey returned to Olympics. India continued to win all the gold medals from 1928 to 1956,” he added.
Dilip said, the sport needs all sort of support from people. “I request people to support our CM and promote this sport. I am glad our government is sponsoring and promoting hockey so well. I urge you all to include yourself in the step taken by CM as hockey needs more recognition,” he added.
On how a sport can be promoted, Dillip said that movies can play a pivotal role. “In 2007, when Chak De India was released and Shah Rukh Khan, a superstar known globally, held the hockey stick and said all good words, it had a huge impact on the players and public too. Movies bring a sport or a player to the limelight. People in rural areas also get to know about it and it flames the spark among hockey enthusiasts,” he said.
India will soon get to see ‘Soorma’, which is about hockey player Sandeep Singh who suffered form a bullet wound and yet had a phenomenal comeback. The movie stars actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh in the lead role while Taapsee Pannu and Angad Bedi play two other pivotal roles. Directed by Shaad Ali, the film will hit theatres on June 29. It has been produced by Deepak Singh and Chitrangada Singh.
Pepped up with hockey feels, Diljit Dosanjh also shared Naveen’s open letter to PM on his instagram account, on Wednesday.
Sandartist Sudarsan Patnaik also made a sand art on the same lines and posted on Twitter.
I support the #HockeyForNationalGame initiative. My SandArt at Puri beach today. pic.twitter.com/1pDr8wiKQv
— Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) June 20, 2018
