New Delhi: Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar on Friday marked National Sports Day with a heartfelt message celebrating India’s athletes across various disciplines, urging people to embrace fitness and draw inspiration from the nation’s rich sporting diversity.
The legendary batter lauded recent trailblazers, including Divya Deshmukh, the youngest-ever FIDE Women’s World Cup Chess champion, D. Gukesh, the youngest men’s winner of the same title, wrestler Rachana, who clinched gold at the U17 World Championship 2025, and Naisha Mehta, who secured India’s first gold in Junior Girls Solo Dance at the Asian Roller Skating Championship.
“I am proud to celebrate the great strides that India has made in the field of sports on National Sports Day,” Tendulkar posted on X. “Currently, our sporting achievements are not limited to one or two marquee sports, but instead reflect the diversity of our country and the diversity of our people.”
He also praised athletes excelling in less-followed sports, from Tulika Maan in judo to the historic lawn bowls women’s team – Rupa Rani Tirkey, Lovely Choubey, Pinki, and Nayanmoni Saikia – who won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Highlighting the rise of domestic leagues across football, kabaddi, volleyball, badminton, handball and hockey, Tendulkar noted how they have nurtured talent and widened the sporting landscape beyond cricket.
“Excelling in sports is something to be extremely proud of,” he wrote, “but just as important is the way in which athletes can inspire everyone, young, old, healthy, or differently abled, to try something new, push themselves to their limits, or simply relax through light physical activity.”
National Sports Day, celebrated every year on August 29, commemorates the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand, who led India to Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936. Revered as the “Hockey Magician”, Dhyan Chand remains one of the greatest players in the sport’s history.
This year, the Fit India Mission is spearheading celebrations with a three-day nationwide sports and fitness movement from August 29–31 under the theme ‘Ek Ghanta, Khel ke Maidan Main’.
First observed in 1995 and nationally recognised since 2012, National Sports Day has become a symbol of India’s commitment to health, fitness and sporting excellence. The launch of the Fit India Movement in 2019 has further transformed the day into a mass fitness revolution.
(IANS)
