India has an amazing variety of sport disciplines — indigenous and extraneous. Hockey, cricket, football, badminton and kabaddi are popular in the country. Traditionally, hockey captivated the people by rising to dizzy heights in the early 90s when Indian men won eight Olympic Golds, six of them in succession. Major Dhyan Chand, considered the doyen of Indian hockey, played a pivotal role in at least three of them. August 29 is generally observed as “National Sports Day” to honour the achievements of the late Dhyan Chand on his birthday.
Though primarily a day to celebrate the legend’s milestones, the day is also noted for remembering the sportsmanship spirit of great Indian sportspersons who have made the country proud by their individual and collective brilliance. This brings us to the pertinent question as to why India does not have a “national game”? A national game need not necessarily be the most popular one of the nation; it also depends on how deeply it is rooted in the culture of the country.
Table tennis is the national game of China, England has both cricket and football, and football is the national game of Spain, Italy, Israel and Mauritius. Sri Lanka’s is volleyball, and it is baseball for the United States. Even Pakistan has hockey as the national sport. For long, we thought hockey to be our national game only to be proved contrary by the Sports ministry in 2012. While answering an RTI query, the ministry was emphatic that there was “no notification” about hockey being the national game.
Having won eight gold, one silver and two bronze in hockey in Olympics, hockey deserved every inch of the “national game” tag. The other question is, of course, whether awarding hockey the “national game” status will automatically add a spring to the steps of the players — highly unlikely. But our children need to know the truth. In hindsight, making kabaddi, where India has done extremely well over the years, should suit the game well due its increasing popularity. Hockey and kabaddi can both be elevated to the “national game” status because some countries have given prominence to more than one game.
