29 August 2015 Current Affairs
Indian women’s hockey team qualifies for Rio Olympics 2016
The Indian women’s hockey team on 29 August 2015 qualified for the next Olympic Games, after a long gap of 36 years, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.It qualified after England defeated Spain in the semi-finals of the Euro Hockey Championships in London, which means that the only teams which can now win the event – Netherlands or England – have already qualified for Rio through the World League Semi-Finals.The Indian team required these two teams to reach the final of the European Championships in order to confirm their qualification.India took the quota place on the basis of its fifth-place finish in the women’s Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium last month.Indian women’s team now join nine other teams, who have already qualified for 2016 Rio Games — Korea as Asian Games champions, Argentina as Pan Am Games champions and Great Britain, China, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and the USA through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals.
National Sports Day observed on August 29th
Every year August 29 is being observed as National Sports Day across the country.The day marks the birth anniversary of Hockey Wizard, Major Dhyan Chand. On this National Sports awards including Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Awards and Dronacharya Awards are bestowed upon sports personalities by the President of India.