Sir Dorabji Tata was a selfless person who believed in the constructive utilisation of wealth for the welfare of the people and nation building.
Amongst his many passions was 'Sports'.
An embodiment of the pioneering spirit, Sir Dorabji Tata was a man deeply appreciative of the power of sports in transforming lives. A skilled sportsman, he was one of the key proponents of India's participation in Olympics.
To honour his immense contribution, we have instituted
'A Celebration Of Sports' lecture series.
Savita Punia the world's best Hockey Goalkeeper of 2022, was born on July 11, 1990, in Jodhkan village of Sirsa district, Haryana. Encouraged by her grandfather, Ranjit Singh Punia, she took up hockey and joined the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre, Hisar, where she trained under Sunder Singh Kharab.
Her family motivated her to join the newly launched sports nursery in Sirsa in 2003. She became a member of the Indian hockey team in 2009, which participated in the Junior Asia Cup and then went on to play an important role in bringing home a Bronze, at the Women’s Asia Cup 2013, Malaysia.
She has to her credit, more than 100 international games, including the coveted Rio Olympics 2016 in Brazil, where her outstanding performance placed India 5th- qualifying the team for the Olympics after 36 years.
During the Hawke’s Bay Cup in New Zealand, her outstanding performance contributed to India securing 6th place in the tournament. In the world league round 2, once again, her extraordinary performance helped the Indian team defeat Chile.
Naib Subedar Avinash Sable is an Indian track and field athlete, who specialises in the 3000 m steeplechase. He holds the national record of 8:11.20, set at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he won the silver medal. This was the ninth time that he had set the national record and the first time ever for an athlete from outside Kenya to have won a medal in the men's 3000 m steeplechase at the Commonwealth Games, since 1994.
Avinash Born on September 13 ,1994, in Mandwa, in the Beed district of Maharashtra, into a family of farmers. He used to often run the 6 km (3.7 mi) distance between his home and school, right from the tender age of six, owing to the unavailability of transport.
After completing the 12th standard, he joined the 5 Mahar regiment of Indian Army and was posted at the Siachen Glacier, followed by the deserts of north-western Rajasthan. His subsequent posting was in Sikkim in 2015.
He became the first male steeplechaser from India to qualify for the World Championships, since Deena Ram (1991). Sable won the silver medal at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championship in Doha, his debut international event, with a timing of 8:30.19. On October 1, 2019, he again broke his own national record at the World Championship, where he ran to a 8:25.23 in the heats to become the first Indian to qualify for the 3000 m steeplechase final.
In the final round, he further improved the national record at 8:21.37, finishing 13th out of 16 runners and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Sable set a new national record at the 2020 Delhi Half Marathon, completing the run in less than 61 minutes. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sable placed seventh in the heats, setting a new national record to 8:18.12. He was the fastest non-qualifier across all heats.
Neeraj Chopra (born on December 24, 1997) is an Indian track and field athlete who competes in javelin throw. As of August 2021, he is ranked as World No. 2 by the World Athletics Organisation after having won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army, Chopra is the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics. He is also the first Indian track and field athlete to win at the IAAF World U20 Championships, where in 2016 he achieved a world under-20 record throw of 86.48 m, becoming the first Indian athlete to set a world record. As of 2021, he is one of only two Indians to have won an individual Olympic gold medal (the other being Abhinav Bindra), as well as the youngest-ever Indian gold medallist in an individual event and the only one to have won gold in his Olympic debut.
Lovlina Borgohain (born on October 2, 1997) is an Indian boxer and an Olympic medal winner. She won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Women's Welterweight category, becoming only the third Indian boxer to win a medal at the Olympics. She also won bronze at the 2018 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships and the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships. She won the gold medal at 1st India Open International Boxing Tournament held in New Delhi and the silver at the second tournament in Guwahati. Borgohain is the first female athlete and the second boxer from Assam to represent the state at the Olympics. In 2020, she became the sixth person from Assam to receive the Arjuna Award.
The third ‘A Celebration Of Sports’ lecture will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at Fasy Auditorium, Loyola School, Jamshedpur.
The 2019 edition will witness an evening of scintillating conversation between badminton legend Pullela Gopichand and Boria Majumdar.
Pullela Gopichand is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, Dronacharya and Arjuna awards. He is the Chief National Coach - Indian Badminton Team, and also the founder of Gopichand Badminton Academy which has produced several iconic badminton players including Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and Srikanth Kidambi.
A Rhodes Scholar, Boria Majumdar, completed his doctorate and thesis - the much acclaimed "Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom: A Social History of Indian Cricket" in 2004. He was subsequently nominated for publication in the Oxford monographs series. He was also the first Indian to be awarded a fellowship to work at the International Olympic museum archives at Luisanne, Switzerland.
This year the lecture will be held on Sunday, August 26, 2018 at the Fasy Auditorium, Loyola School, Jamshedpur.
The event will feature Padma Shri Zafar Iqbal, Olympic Gold Medalist & Arjuna Award recipient and Ric Charlesworth, Olympic Silver Medalist & Hockey Australia Hall of Fame Inductee speaking of their love for sports and the journey to glory. Boria Majumdar, eminent sports journalist and author will be the moderator for the session.
Former Captain Zafar Iqbal has made invaluable contribution to the Indian Hockey Team. He played and won the Silver Medal at the Asian Games in Bangkok and New Delhi. The crowning glory of his illustrious career was when he represented India at the Moscow Olympics and brought home the Gold Medal. He has also been conferred the Arjuna Award, the highest award for sports in India, for his outstanding contribution to Indian Hockey.
Ric Charlesworth is a former Captain and one of the most successful coaches in Australian Hockey. He is the first person to have played in and coached a Gold medal-winning World Cup team in hockey. He is an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Hockey Australia Hall of Fame Inductee.
A Rhodes Scholar, Boria Majumdar, completed his doctorate and thesis - the much acclaimed "Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom: A Social History of Indian Cricket" in 2004. He was subsequently nominated for publication in the Oxford monographs series. He was also the first Indian to be awarded a fellowship to work at the International Olympic museum archives at Luisanne, Switzerland.
Sir Dorabji Tata, the elder son of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, attended the Proprietory High School in Bombay and, at the age of 16, was sent to a private tutor in Kent in England. At 18, he attended Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge.
It was in England that Sir Dorabji discovered his love for sports. During the two years he was at Cambridge, he distinguished himself at sports, winning honours for cricket and football. He also played tennis for his college, became an expert rower, won a number of sprint events and was a good horseman.
Sir Dorabji had an enduring love of sport, trying his hand at different disciplines in his younger days and, later, becoming a strong patron and supporter of the Indian Olympic Association. In fact, India owed its participation in the Olympic Games at Antwerp in 1920 in great measure to Sir Dorabji. As president of the Indian Olympic Council, he financed the Indian contingent that went to the Paris Olympiad of 1924. He was also a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Sir Dorabji had the country scoured for sports talent. He arranged for the then director of the Young Men’s Christian Association to tour the country and bring home to the people of India the importance of the Olympic movement. He helped found, among other institutions in Bombay, the Willingdon Sports Club, the Parsi Gymkhana, the High Schools Athletic Association and the Bombay Presidency Olympic Games Association.
Today, his love for sports resonates in our continuing work to promote and support athletes in every field.