National Sports Day: India’s top 5 sporting moments

The National Sports Day in India is celebrated on August 29, on the birth anniversary of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand. He contributed in three hockey golds for India in the Olympics and scored 570 goals in his career, from 1926 to 1949. National Sports Day honours him as one of the greatest sportspersons India has produced.  

Also read: Dhyan Chand once turned down Adolf Hitler’s offer to join the German Army

Here are India’s top five sporting moments:

1) Neeraj Chopra’s Olympic gold (2021): A 87.58m javelin throw on August 7 landed India her second individual gold medal at the Olympics and the first in athletics. Neeraj Chopra scripted history and the best part- he did not even give it a look after the spear went off his hands, he turned back and and promptly celebrated it. The 23-year-old’s old-winning performance was ranked among the 10 magical moments of Tokyo Olympic Games by World Athletics (WA) and now August 7 every year will be observed as the ‘Javelin throw day’ in India. 

Also read: Taskforce, training, then medals: Tokyo Olympics hint at Modi’s ‘New India’

2) Abhinav Bindra Olympic gold (2008): India had produced greats like Milkha Singh and PT Usha but in so many decades at the Olympics, never had an individual player won a gold medal. In 2008, the wait was over. A young shooter from Punjab – Abhinav Bindra – shot India to a gold in the 10-meter air rifle event. Bindra has just managed to squeeze past the qualification, an underdog, he stunned by shooting nothing below the 10.0 mark. 

3) 1983 World Cup: 

If someone asks you what is greatest underdog story of all time, your first words should be ‘Kapil Dev‘. Period. The Indian cricket dressing room, with some dashing talent in Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Roger Binny, Ravi Shastri, went on to defy the odds and defeat the mighty West Indies, twice and eventually claim the silverware. From Kapil Dev’s magical 175 runs against Zimbabwe to Kris Srikkanth’s timely 38 in the final, the 1983 World Cup gave the entire country some magical moments to cherish for many years to come. 

Also read:100 years, 3 stories, 1 dream: Neeraj Chopra’s win is more than just a gold

4 Indian Olympic gold hockey (1928): 

National Sports Day honours one of India’s greatest sportspersons- Dhyan Chand. And one of Dhyan Chand’s best moments from his glorious hockey career came in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. India made their hockey debut that year at the Games that year. After defeating Great Britain 4-0 in an exhibition match, post which the English withdrew from the Olympics, Dhyan Chand and company went on to beat Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland in the pool matches. Their smallest margin of victory was 5-0. A 22-year-old Dhyan Chand was the top scorer, with 14 goals, as India cruised past Netherlands in the final. That Olympic Games set the Indian hockey team in motion to win ten successive medals – seven of them golds. 

Also read: Watch: Yashpal Sharma’s terrific knock in 1983 World Cup semi-final

5) India’s 2001 Test match win vs Australia in Kolkata: 

Ask a cricket fan from the 1990s and they shall describe India’s 2001 Test win over Australia at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata as the best five-day match they have seen. It was a story that started from adversity and finished with champagne bottles. The Indian side led by Sourav Ganguly, who described this match as God’s test, put an end to Steve Waugh-led Australia’s 16-match unbeaten streak in the whites. The visitors, after winning the toss, chose to bat and scored 445 runs. Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian bowler to take a hattrick in Tests. 

However, in response the Indian lineup were bowled for a mere 171. They were asked to follow on, trailing 274 runs. At 232/4, the popular emotion at the Eden Gardens was of a loss. But then two Indian stalwarts, VVS Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) stitched a highly-impressive 376-run stand for the fifth-wicket to turn the match on its head. They batted through Day 4, leaving the Aussie pacers and Shane Warne in distress. India posted 657 runs, setting a 384-run target. Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar wreaked havoc on day 5, dismissing the Aussies for 212.