New Delhi: On June 23 1894, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was born turning Pierre de Coubertin’s dream into a reality. Marking this day every year as IOC’s official birthday, sports organizations encourage people to get active and engage in sports and celebrate the spirit of unity through various local events and activities.
Joining in the celebrations, Hockey India member units hosted various activities across the country from quiz series at NGOs to various exhibition matches at over thirty three member units.
Some highlights include the Coonoor based SDT Hockey Academy functioning under Hockey India celebrated International Olympic Day at Arignar Anna Government Higher Secondary School grounds Coonoor wherein more than 150 players took part. Exhibition matches were held between players from various teams and the youngsters from Coonoor who had represented the Tamilnadu state team in the recent 2 years. The team displayed enormous zeal and enthusiasm taking part in this celebration. Also, on the occasion Mr Balamurugan, Secretary of Hockey Nilgiris enlisted the activities of the Association aimed at producing quality players and young umpires through the help of Hockey Unit of Tamilnadu and Hockey India via periodic workshops, coaching seminars, and visit by experts.
Similarly, Hockey Andhra Pradesh and Rural Development Trust, Anantapuramu jointly commemorated the Olympic Day run by organizing a goodwill Hockey Match between the AP Youth Women Hockey Team and RDT Hockey Academy Team at Anantapur. Various dignitaries attended the event and conveyed best wishes to Indian Hockey Teams taking part in the upcoming Olympic Games at Rio 2016.
Likewise, Hockey Karnataka also hosted Olympic Day Exhibition match for Women between Stars eleven vs Christ College. Hockey Mizoram celebrated the Olympic Day by conducting two matches one for the Men’s and the other Women’s. Assam Hockey organised Olympic Day 2016 at Guwahati by hosting Men’s Friendship Match. The Mumbai Hockey Association celebrated Olympic Day wherein they conducted hockey matches for Men & Women. Hockey Haryana also celebrated Olympic Day by hosting matches (Men & Women) at the Astro-Turf field in Sonepat. Hockey Maharashtra celebrated Olympic Day by hosting matches for Men & Women at the Khadki Cantonment ground . The Men’s Team matches were between Bombay Engineering Group, Khadki vs Combinded Khadki XI won by BEG 2-0 and the Women’s Team matches were between Rovers Academy vs Wadia XI.won by Rovers 1-0. Present on the occasion were Olympians Ajit Lakra and Vikram Pillay who were felicitated by Mrs Pooja Manish Anand, Member Khadki Cantonment Board. Senior Player from yesteryears Mr Felix Bernard was also felicitated on the occasion.
In New Delhi, a special Quiz and exhibition matches marked the celebration of the Olympics at One Thousand Hockey Legs, a project of Delhi based NGO Hockey Citizen Group. Hockey Citizen Group is a Hoc-Key member of Hockey India. Hockey Citizen Group, through its OTHL Project, works at grassroots level to bring more and more children into the realm of hockey as a preferred sport. This was followed by an exhibition match between One Thousand Hockey Legs XI and Govt Boys School, Bangner, Delhi, which ended in 2-2 draw.
Speaking on the occasion, Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmad, Secretary General, Hockey India, said, “Marking this very special year as the Indian Men Hockey Team and Indian Women Hockey Team head for Rio with confidence and zeal to win a medal, we would like to wish them our very best. At the same time it is important to create more awareness on the philosophy of the Olympics. The various events organized under the supervision of Hockey India to celebrate Olympic Day helped hundreds of participants to know, understand and value the Olympics ideology and to highlight Hockey’s role in making India shine at the Olympics.”
List of participating units for the Olympic Day celebrations is as below –
1. Assam Hockey
2. Bengal Hockey Association
3. Chhattisgarh Hockey
4. Citizen Hockey XI
5. Delhi Hockey
6. Goans Hockey
7. Hockey Bihar
8. Hockey Andhra Pradesh
9. Hockey Bengaluru
10. Hockey Chandigarh
11. Hockey Haryana
12. Hockey Jammu & Kashmir
13. Hockey Jharkhand
14. Hockey Karnataka
15. Kerala Hockey
16. Hockey Madhya Bharat
17. Hockey Maharashtra
18. Hockey Mizoram
19. Hockey Puducherry
20. Hockey Punjab
21. Hockey Rajasthan
22. Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu
23. Hubli Hockey Academy
24. Mata Sahib Kaur Hockey Academy
25. The Mumbai Hockey Association
26. Mumbai Schools Sports Association
27. RV Academy
28. SDT Hockey Nilgiris Academy
29. TamilNadu Hockey Academy
30. Telangana Hockey
31. Tripura Hockey
32. Uttar Pradesh Hockey
33. Vidarbha Hockey Association
