Chandigarh, August 29 :The Chandigarh Sports Council today honoured international hockey players Rajpal Singh, Jaswinder Singh and Baljit Singh Senior on the occasion of National Sports Day at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium here. The Government of India has declared August 29, the birthday of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, as the National Sports Day which is celebrated all over the country.
Adviser to the Chandigarh Administrator Pradip Mehra presented a cheque of Rs one lakh each to these City hockey stars.
Olympian rower Manjeet Singh, cricketer Yuvraj Singh and other top international players, including golfers, would be felicitated at a separate function.
Rajpal, Jaswinder and Baljit Singh Senior were members of the Indian team which won the Asia Cup in Chennai last year. These players have also represented the country in more internation tournaments.
Adviser on the occasion said that Chandigarh has been the nursery for sports persons and athletes for last 30 to 35 years because of its wonderful maintained infrastructure.
Applauding Indian medal winners — gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra, bornze medalist boxer Vijender Singh and bronze medalist wrestler Sushil Kumar — in the Beijing Olympic Games, Pradip Mehra said the that this was just the beginning of a long road of achievements for the coming Olympics and other sports tournaments.
The Adviser further added that the Chandiagarh Administration was committed for the expansion, maintenance and up-gradation of sports infrastructure in the city. Chandigarh already has academies for hockey, cricket and football and soon it would have academies for other sports disciplines also.
Director Sports I. S. Sandhu hoped that more than 5 pass-outs of this year Hockey Academy would be the part of Indian hockey team and some pass- outs of Football Academies would also get place in the Indian football team.
Home-cum-Sports Secretary Sanjay Kumar accompanied the Adviser.