“Overwhelmed to receive this letter from our Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji. His constant support to athletes has motivated us to do our best at Tokyo2020. Sir, I am inspired by your passion for sport and pledge to continue my contribution to Indian sports. @PMOIndia @ianuragthakur,” Rupinder tweeted while attaching the appreciation letter by PM. 

In his social media post, overwhelmed Lakra expressed his gratitude and said, “We athletes contribute our life to the sport and when it is acknowledged by Hon’ble PM of the country, it feels like we have really done our bit for nation-building. Heartfelt thanks to Hon’ble Narendra Modi ji for his warm gesture. The time spent with you at the interaction after Tokyo 2020 will always remain memorable. Sir, I will surely take up the suggestion made by you regarding visits to 75 schools as part of #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav and continue to contribute to my country in my own little way.”

Lakra and Pal were both members of the Bronze clinching team at Tokyo. On September 30, Pal and Lakra announced his early retirement from the sport via social media platform citing “paving the way for youth to showcase their talents in the podium”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent letters of appreciation to the staunch players for their contribution to the well-celebrated sport. 

In his letter to Pal, Modi wrote, “…I would like to personally thank you for all that you have done Indian hockey.” He pointed to Rupinder as a source of inspiration for Indian Hockey for the last decade and applauded him for his part in the resurgence of the sport in the country. 

The PM asked Rupinder to play his part in the Amrit Mahotsav by touring various schools across the country by August 2023. He also requested him to reach out to youngsters on ways to eliminate malnutrition plus promote the sport amongst them. 

“This would be a great service to the coming generations,” Modi added. 

The post Hockey Olympians moved by PM’s appreciation letters first appeared on The History Book of Indian Hockey.

PM Modi took to Twitter to made the announcement. “I have been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand. I thank them for their views. Respecting their sentiment, the Khel Ratna Award will hereby be called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award! Jai Hind!” tweeted Modi.

It was in 1991-92 when the Khel Ratna award was first conferred to Chess genius Viswanathan Anand. The other winners who were honoured with the award were Leander Paes, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhanraj Pillay, Pullela Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra, Anju Bobby George, Mary Kom and Rani Rampal in 2020.

The hockey classic, Major Dhyan Chand, played international hockey from 1926 to 1949, scoring over 400 goals throughout his career. Dhyan Chand, born in Allahabad, was part of the national team that won gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics.

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 inaugurated in 2002. In the same year, the National Stadium in New Delhi was renamed the Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

The post Khel Ratna renamed to Dhyan Chand award first appeared on The History Book of Indian Hockey.

On the other hand, Belgium claimed entered the semifinal by defeating Spain in an adventurous match. Both the teams are ready to set the stage on fire tomorrow. Before the semifinal match, here are the one-on-one records between the opponent teams.

Head-to-head record

The national team played against Belgium three times in 2019. team played against Belgium three times in their tour of the country back in 2019. At that time, Belgium lost all the matches to India. In one of the games, the Indians lambasted Belgium 5-1.

If records are taken into account, India is ahead of the Belgians in their last five matches. They have registered 4 wins in the last 5 matches against Belgium.

The last time when India and Belgium fought against each other in the Olympics, things didn’t turn out very well for team India as they were beaten 3-1 by the European nation.

Where do they stand at world rankings?

Belgium is at the top position in the world. The European nation maintained in top form for a long time. They named the World Cup and European championships to get themselves to the World No. 1 spot.

The Indian team, on the other hand, isn’t that far from in terms of quality. With their brilliant form and spectacular performance, they are placed at their best-ever ranking of World No. 3

The post India to face Belgium in Semis on Aug 3, who is going to win? first appeared on The History Book of Indian Hockey.