National Sports Days

Several countries around the world celebrate a National Sports Day. In India, it is celebrated on August 29. It is held on this day because it is the birthday of Dhyan Chan. Dhyan was one of the greatest sportspersons from India. He was an excellent hockey player and won gold medals for India at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics. Many people think he was one of the greatest hockey players in the world. People even gave him the nickname ‘The Wizard’.

In Japan people celebrate a Health and Sports Day on the second Monday in October. This day was chosen to mark the opening of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964. The first Health and Sports Day was held 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 aim 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. In 2015, about five million students, teachers and staff members joined in the National Sports Day at their schools.