Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

• Recently, the Prime Minister renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest sporting honour, after hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand.
• This came a day after the Indian men’s hockey team won the bronze medal in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics and hours after the women’s team finished fourth.

Key Points

About:

• The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award.
• The now renamed Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award comes with a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh.
• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting award given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years.
• The award comprises a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize of Rs 7. 5 lakh.
• The Khel Ratna award was instituted in 1991-1992 and the first recipient was Chess legend Viswanathan Anand. Among the other winners were Leander Paes, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhanraj Pillay, Pullela Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra, Anju Bobby George, Mary Kom and Rani Rampal in 2020.

Major Dhyan Chand:

• Known as The Wizard, Major Dhyan Chand, a field hockey player, played international hockey from 1926 to 1949, scoring over 400 goals in his career.
• Dhyan Chand, born in Allahabad, was part of the Olympic team that won gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936.
• Apart from the Khel Ratna award, the country’s highest award for lifetime achievement in sports is known as the Dhyan Chand Award. It was instituted in 2002.
• The National Stadium in New Delhi was also renamed as the Dhyan Chand National Stadium in 2002.
• The National Sports Day is observed every year across India on 29th August to mark the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand who was born on 29th August 1905.
• The President of India on this occasion honours the eminent athletes from various sports with the prestigious Khel Ratna, Arjuna Awards, Dronacharya Awards, and Dhyan Chand Award.