NATIONAL SPORTS DAYS

Several countries around the world celebrate a National Sports Day. People in India celebrate it on August 29, when it is the birthday of Dhyan Chan. Dhyan was one of the greatest sports people from India. He was an excellent hockey player and won gold medals for India at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics. Many people think that he was one of the greatest hockey players in the world. People even gave him the nickname ‘The Wizard’. On this day, teenagers play hockey or go to hockey matches.

In Japan people celebrate a Health and Sports Day on the second Monday in October. The Japanese celebrated it to mark the opening of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964. The first Health and Sports Day was on October 22, 1966. It is a national holiday so many people take the day off work and school. The idea behind having this day is to encourage people to have an active lifestyle.

Malaysia also has a national holiday to mark their National Sports Day. This holiday is held every year on the second Saturday in October. Like Japan, the goal is to encourage people to be active and have a healthy lifestyle. This is quite new because the first National Sports Day was held in 2015. On this day about five million students, teachers and staff members join in the National Sports Day at their schools. They celebrate it by doing gymnastics, doing sports and informing people about healthy lifestyles.