Bhubaneswar: Regarded as the best sportsperson India has ever produced, Major Dhyan Chand has done enough for Indian hockey which put the country in world sports map. Known as ‘The Wizard’, is an inspiration to many and his birthday (August 29) has been celebrated as National Sports Day.
The President gives away awards – such as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna for Indian sportspersons as well as Dronacharya for Indian coaches – on this auspicious occasion.
Having scored more than 400 goals during his international career, Dhyan Chand, in 1956, was awarded Padma Bhushan, then second highest civilian honour.
Initially, sportspersons were not being nominated for Bharat Ratna, but later their achievements were recognized. In 2014, Dhyan Chand had been nominated for the honour, but it was Indian cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar who had the honour.
Questions have been raised since then, mostly from the hockey fraternity as well as sports lovers. Notably, Ashok Kumar, son of Dhyan Chand, had campaigned on this issue so that the hockey great would be able to write his name in the honourable list.
In support of Dhyan Chand, ‘Signature 24 Productions’, a creative and digital agency, initiated a digital campaign on the 114th birth anniversary of Dhyan Chand in 2019 in association with Wohoo Marketing and Newsbeat Magazine, to bring together the citizens to voice their support for the campaign named ‘Bharat Ratna For Dhyan Chand_Digital Campaign’.
“It’s been 100 days since we started this campaign on Facebook and other social platform with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, Odia film actor Babushaan Mohanty as well as Rachel White. The campaign has been supported a lot by celebrities from various states and work field, including Ashok Kumar,” said Joyeeta Roy, founder director of Signature 24 Productions.