Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium
The National Stadium | |
 | |
| Location | New Delhi, India |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 28°36′45″N 77°14′14″E / 28.61250°N 77.23722°E |
| Owner | Sports Authority of India |
| Capacity | 20,000 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1933 |
| Opened | 1951 |
| Tenants | |
| India national field hockey team | |
Dhyan Chand National Stadium is a field hockey stadium at New Delhi, India. It originally held 25,000 people. It is named after former famous Indian field hockey player, Dhyan Chand. The national stadium Is also well known for its Cricket coaching. The Dronacharya Award winner for Cricket, Sunita Sharma coaches cricket at this facility. It served as the venue for the 1st Asian Games in 1951. A 50-metre swimming pool is built to the east of the stadium.
History
The stadium was originally built in 1933 as a multipurpose stadium and named the Irwin Amphitheatre. It was designed by Anthony S. DeMillo. It was renamed National Stadium before the 1951 Asian Games, Dhyan Chand's name was added in 2002.
There was a Army hockey tournament named after Dhyan Chand held in this stadium after Asian Olympics.Maj.Laxman Singh was the sports secretary of Army and Maj.Dhyan chand stayed with him in Jodhpur Mess near the stadium.He invited the kids from the neighborhood to go with him. Satinder Mullick was fortunate to be among those kids.Earlier,Satinder Mullick was selected by Asian Games to be the youngest St.John Ambulance Volunteer in 1951 at age 14.I heard from people that Dhyan Chand had a magic with hockey stick.Even Hitler saw him play and asked his hockey be taken and gave him another hockey to use.My recollection is that Dhyan Chand was very humble person inspite of fact that he had magic with hockey stick.
Major Renovations
The Dhyan Chand Stadium is the host venue for the 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup.[1] It will also be the hockey venue of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The stadium underwent a major reconstruction project before the Hockey World Cup 2010.
On 24th January 2010 it became the first venue for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be unveiled.[2]. The stadium was revamped at a cost of Rs 266 crore. The original stands, which were earthen embankments, were demolished and a new rectangular seating bowl was constructed in its place.
Stadium Features
The stadium is spread over 17,500 square metres in the 37-acre complex. It has three synthetic pitches — two conform to international standards and a third is for practice.
A new polygrass turf was laid on all pitches equipped with new sprinkler systems. The main field has a capacity to seat about 16,200 spectators. The second pitch outside the main arena has 900 permanent seats and with a provision of 1,600 temporary seats.The two competitive pitches are flood-lit with foldable floodlight towers (hinged mast lights) which will provide 2,200 lux illumination during the competition. This will enable high definition TV transmission.
The stadium has state-of-the-art sound system with required acoustic effects and also two scoreboards on right and left flanks overlooking the spectators' areas. Both the pitches are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for the players like change rooms, relaxation lounges and a spacious VVIP lounge.
The entire stadium is centrally air-conditioned and fitted with lifts, barrier free provisions for athletes and spectators who are physically challenged. The stadium will get its power supply from two grids with a backup based on generator sets and battery uninterrupted power supply.
References
External links
- Hockey World Cup 2010 Tickets
- Hockey World Cup 2010 Tickets (India)
- Men’s Hockey World Cup 2010 Schedule
- 2010 Commonwealth Hockey Stadium
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