Vice President Naidu calls for reviving glory of traditional Indian sports like hockey

New Delhi [India], August 8 : Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday called for reviving the glory of traditional Indian sports like hockey and urged state governments and corporate entities to join hands in providing needed encouragement.
Releasing the postage stamp in the memory of social worker and nationalist, Chaman Lal at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas yesterday, the Vice President said that the recent performance of the Indian hockey team in the Tokyo Olympics has rekindled the interest in the sports and time has come for promoting traditional Indian sports like hockey and kabaddi in a big way.
He called for strengthening infrastructure including artificial turf and training and coaching at the grassroots level. Naidu also lauded the Center's proactive encouragement to Indian sports, informed the official release by the Vice President's Secretariat.
"As we recall the contribution of the great nationalist, Chaman Lal ji, it is also an apt time to congratulate our men and women hockey teams who covered themselves with Olympic glory, doing the entire nation proud. Despite their loss in the semi-final encounter at Tokyo, the women's team showed remarkable grit and strength of character all through the tournament," said VP Naidu.
"As analysts have pointed out, the women's team began to get the attention and support it so richly deserved only in the last four years. It must be borne in mind that the women's did not qualify in the Olympics for 36 long years until the 2016 Rio Olympics. It is only proper, therefore, that we celebrate their superlative performance at Tokyo 2020, which is nothing less than a victory," said the Vice President.
The Rajya Sabha speaker pointed out that this Indian hockey team overcame insurmountable odds seen in the light of the fact that many of them hail from under-privileged and marginalized segments of society.
"I am happy that the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, is showing keen interest in promoting Indian Sports like Hockey which has been our traditional forte. There is every need to revive our past glory in various Indian Sports", he said.
Vice President Naidu said that time has come for all state governments also to promote hockey and kabbadi in a big way by co-opting corporate entities and by strengthening the sports infrastructure, including key components like artificial turf, apart from training and coaching systems at the grass-root level.