National game of India

Sports and games play an important role in our life. Hockey is a team game wherein a group of players having excellent physical fitness, mastery over the skills and tactical capabilities together with high order of mental functioning collectively strive to outsmart their rivals in a competition. It is a game that requires nerves of steel to tolerate the critical competition load.

Hockey as National Game

In India among various sports, hockey occupies a significant place. It is the national game of India. It is a game of skill, deception, anticipation, concentration and chatterer. Like all other games, hockey too has its fundamental skills. To be on the top in any game, it is necessary to have mastery over its fundamental skills. The fundamental skills of a game are based on the motor moments of human being. Hockey is considered a highly competitive sport around the world. Both men and women take part in the game world over.

Eminent Indian Hockey Players:-

Dhyan Chand

Dhyan Chand was born on 29 August 1905, in Allahabad, U.P. He joined the army at the age of sixteen. ‘Lance Naik’ Dhyan Chand built a reputation for himself while playing for the army. At the Berlin Olympics in 1936, Dhyan Chand could not play in the finals against Germany in the beginning. But as he was hurt at half point, when India was leading by only 1-0, Dhyan Chand removed his shoes and entered the field bare foot. He took India to a stunning victory scoring 6 more goals. Adolf Hitler, the German dictator, was so impressed by Dhyan Chand’s performance in the Berlin Olympic finals that he offered to elevate ‘Lance Naik’ Dhyan Chand to the rank of a Colonel if he migrated to Germany. Of course, Dhyan Chand refused. It was hard for people to believe that somebody could have the kind of hockey skills Dhyan Chand had. In Holland, the authorities broke his hockey stick to check if there was a magnet inside. In Japan the authorities felt Dhyan Chand was using some glue which made the ball stick to it. Dhyan Chand scored over a thousand goals in a career spanning 22 years (1926 -1948), more than any other hockey player in the world. A sports club in Vienna built a statue of Dhyan Chand with four hands and four sticks. To the Viennese, it seemed that no ordinary man with two hands and one stick could have played as well as Dhyan Chand did play. He is known as hockey wizard across the world. He was captain of the Indian team in 1936 Berlin Olympics which won Gold medal in hockey. 29th August, the birthday of the Great Dhyan Chand, is celebrated as national sports day in our country.

Dhanraj Pillay

Dhanraj Pillay has been one of the best all time Hockey players of India and also one of the most popular hockey players the game has ever produced for the country. An extremely good forward with sharp attacking acumen, Dhanraj came from a very modest background and by dint of his sheer talent and charismatic skills rose to become one of the most prominent Hockey players of the nation. Dhanraj Pillay made his debut in the International Hockey with Allwyn Asia Cup Hockey tournament held at New Delhi in the year 1989. He played his first International match against the team of China on the 20th of December 1989. After this, he represented the Indian team in a number of International tournaments such as Beijing Asian Games 1990, Barcelona Olympic Games 1992, and World Cup Hockey tournament 1994 and so on till the year 2004. He has been the only Hockey player who has participated in 4 Olympic Games (held in the years 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004), 4 World Cup Tournaments (held in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002, 4 Champions Trophy Tournaments (held in 1995, 1996, 2002 and 2003), and 4 Asian Games (held in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002). He also served as the Captain of the Indian Hockey team for some time, and led the team to victory in Asian Games 1998 and Asia Cup Hockey 2003. Dhanraj was the highest goal scorer in the Hockey event at Bangkok Asian Games 1998, and has been the only Indian player to appear in the World Eleven team at Sydney World Cup Tournament 1994. As an honour to his extra-ordinary talent devotion towards the game of Hockey and his contribution to be nation through his efforts made in the game, the highest sporting honor of India, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna was bestowed upon Dhanraj Pillay by the Government of India for the year 1999-2000, and was honored by the Padma Shri award in 2000. At the Champions Trophy tournament 2002 held at Cologne, Germany, he was named the Player of the Tournament.

National games of different countries:-

S.No.	Country	Capital	National game
1.	India	New Delhi	Hockey
2.	Pakistan	Islamabad	Hockey
3.	Spain	Madrid	Bulls Fighting
4.	Guyana	Georgetown	Cricket
5.	Australia	Canberra	Cricket
6.	England	London	Cricket
7.	Jamaica	Kingston	Cricket
8.	Bermuda	Hamilton	Cricket
9.	China	Beijing	Table Tennis
10.	Russia	Moscow	Football and Chess
11.	Brazil	Brasília	Football
12.	France	Paris	Football
13.	Mauritius	Port Louis	Football
14.	Italy	Rome	Football
15.	New Zealand	Wellington	Rugby Union
16.	Wales	Cardiff	Rugby union
17.	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Badminton
18.	Indonesia	Jakarta	Badminton
19.	Switzerland	Bern	Shooting, Gymnastic
20.	Bangladesh	Dhaka	Kabaddi
21.	Bhutan	Thimphu	Archery
22.	Japan	Tokyo	Judo
23.	Venezuela	Caracas	Volleyball
24.	Srilanka	Colombo	Volley ball
25.	USA	Washington DC	Baseball
26.	Cuba	Havana	Baseball
27.	Lithuania	Vilnius	Basketball
28.	Estonia	Tallinn	Basketball
29.	Latvia	Riga	Basketball (summer sport) Ice hockey (winter sport)
30.	Scotland	Edinburgh	Golf
31.	Norway	Oslo	Cross-country skiing
32.	Canada	Ottawa	Ice Hockey

List of Indian National Trophies and awards with associated games and sports:

Games/Sports	Trophies/Awards
Hockey	Ranjit Singh Gold Cup
Hockey	Agha Khan Cup
Hockey	All-India Women’s Guru Nanak Championship
Hockey	Beighton Cup
Hockey	Bombay Gold Cup
Hockey	Rene Frank Trophy
Hockey	Scindia Gold Cup
Hockey	Sahni Trophy
Hockey	Tommy Eman Gold Cup
Hockey	Murugappa Gold Cup
Hockey	Modi Gold Cup
Hockey	Gurmeet Trophy
Hockey	Gura Nanak Cup
Hockey	Gyanuati Devi Trophy
Hockey	Dhyan Chand Trophy
Hockey	lndira Gold Cup
Hockey	Rangaswami Cup
Hockey	Kuppuswamy Naidu Trophy
Hockey	Lady Rattan Tata Trophy
Hockey	MCC Trophy
Hockey	Nehru Trophy
Hockey	Obaid Ullah Gold Cup
Football	Raghbir Singh Memorial
Football	Durand Cup
Football	D. C. M. Cup
Football	Dr. B. C. Roy Trophy (Junior)
Football	Rovers Cup
Football	Sanjay Gold Cup
Football	Santosh Trophy
Football	Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee
Football	Subroto Cup
Football	Todd Memorial Trophy
Football	Vittal Trophy
Football	Nixan Gold Cup
Football	I. F. A. Shield
Football	F. A. Cup
Football	Bandodkar Trophy
Football	Chakoia Gold Trophy
Cricket	G. D. Birla Trophy
Cricket	Ghulam Ahmed Trophy
Cricket	lrani Trophy
Cricket	Rohinton Baria Trophy
Cricket	Sheesh Mahal Trophy
Cricket	Moinuddaula Gold Cup
Cricket	Vizzy Trophy
Cricket	Vijay Merchant Trophy
Cricket	Wills Trophy
Cricket	Rani Jhansi Trophy
Cricket	Ranjit Trophy
Cricket	Deodhar Trophy
Cricket	Duleep Trophy
Cricket	C. K. Naydu Trophy
Athletics	Charminar Trophy
Badminton	Chadha Cup
Table Tennis	Barna-Bellack Cup
Table Tennis	Ramanujan Trophy
Tennis	Rajendra Prasad Cup
Air Racing	Jawaharlal Challenge
Best Services Sportsman	Jaswant Singh Trophy
Weight-lifting	Burdwan Trophy
Badminton	Divan Cup
Badminton	Agarwal Cup
Badminton	Narang Cup
Bridge	Holkar Trophy
Rowing	Wellington Trophy
Basketball	Bangalore Blues Challenge Cup
Polo	Radha Mohan Cup
Polo	Prithi Singh Cup
Polo	Ezra Cup