Rijiju honours former hockey champions

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday honoured the former hockey players for their achievements and contribution to the country.

Taking to Twitter, Rijiju said, "They were the stars and they will forever remain the Indian heroes! I'll tweet one by one mentioning their achievements for our great nation."

In a series of tweets, he individually honoured each player and also mentioned their career achievements.

Rijiju honoured Dr MP Ganesh who won a bronze medal at 1972 Munich Olympics and led the Indian team at 1973 World Cup- where they bagged the silver medal.

On Thursday, MP Ganesh's name was recommended by the Sports Ministry for the Padma Shree award, according to the sources.

Rijiju also facilitated Brig, HJS Chimni gold medallist of 1975 World Cup, Harbinder Singh gold medallist at 1964 Tokyo Olympics, won a bronze medal in 1968 Mexico Olympics and in 1972 Munich Olympics, and Zafar Iqbal gold medal at 1980 Moscow Olympics and played at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Rijiju also honoured Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, MK Kaushik, Ashok Diwan, Arvind Chhabra, Romeo James, Vineet Kumar, MP Singh, and Harender Singh.

India hockey team had a total of eight gold medals in the Olympics and also clinched a gold medal in the 1971 World Cup.