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Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium

  • Seating Capacity:  16,500 Fixed Seats
  • Total Floor Area: 17,500 square meters in the 37-acre (150,000 m2) complex.
  • Entrance / Egress: 4 ramps for open gallery, 2 ramps for VIP gallery, staircases and lifts.
  • Score Boards: Electronic and video-matrix scoreboards
  • Sports Facility: It has three synthetic pitches two of which conform to international standards and a third one for practice
  • Lighting / PA System: The foldable floodlight towers (hinged mast lights)  offer 2,200 lux lighting all through the competition
  • Barrier Free Access:  Provided for Physically challenged athletes and spectators.

Often referred to as the "Temple of Indian Hockey", the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium is situated in New Delhi, India. The name has been given after former Indian national field hockey player Dhyan Chand who was a 3 times gold medal winner with India at the Olympics between 1928 and 1936.  The stadium is commonly called by its former name which is National Stadium and is located adjacent to the Indian Coast Guard Headquarters.

The National Stadium held the 1st Asian Games in the year 1951 and later became the first venue for 2010 Commonwealth games to be unveiled on 24th January 2010. Presently the stadium is a home to Hockey India League side Delhi Waveriders, who took part in the inaugural HIL in 2013.

In appreciation of the National Stadium, Leandro Negre, the President of FIH, has called it the best Hockey stadium in the world. The National stadium is definitely one of Delhi’s unique state-of-the-art sports venues.

History

The stadium was originally meant to be a multipurpose stadium and was a gift to Delhi by the Maharaja of Bhavnagar. Built in 1933, it was initially named as Irwin amphitheatre. Anthony S. Demillo was the designer of this amphitheatre, while  inaugurated by Lord Wellingdon.  Edwin Lutyens, the architect of Delhi wanted a garden in the place of the stadium. The idea was to have a panaromic view of the Purana Quila which lay perpendicular to the axis beginning from the Rashtrapati Bhavan through Rajpat and ending at the India gate. His plan was not approved and the stadium stayed at the place. It was named National Stadium before commencement of the 1951 Asian Games. ‘Dhyan Chand’ was added to the name in 2002.

Hockey

The Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium has three pitches of synthetic material. Two of these pitches conform to the international standards while the third one is meant for practice. The main arena has a capacity to seat around 16,200 spectators. The 2nd pitch which is out of the main arena features 900 seats that are permanent. Besides this, it features a provision of temporary 1,600  seats. Furthermore, the pitches are well-equipped with facilities for the players including relaxation lounges, a VVIP lounge and changing rooms.

The hockey pitches at the stadium are all equipped with floodlights and electronic and video-matrix scoreboard. There is also a new polygrass turf laid on all pitches and is equipped with new sprinkler system.

The National Stadium has a system is place to allow for high definition TV transmission. The stadium gets its power provisions from 2 grids with a backup provided through uninterrupted supply by battery and few sets of generator.

The stadium is divided into three main areas, namely, the functional area, the operational area and the field of play. One can have food in the functional area, but not carry it into the operational area. The operational area is all air-conditioned. The National Stadium is one of the first Indian stadiums to have excellent training facilities and state-of-art field of play.

2010 Commonwealth Games

The National stadium hosted the 2010 Commonwealth games and was the first venue to be unveiled on 24th January 2010. The stadium underwent major renovations prior to the hosting of the Commonwealth games. The intelligent renovations not only made the stadium perfect by all international standards but also gained wholesome appreciations for its state-of-art facilities.   

Renovation

The major renovation of the National Stadium was undertaken in 2010 before it hosted the 2010 Men’s Hockey World Cup and 2010 Commonwealth games.

A whooping 262 crore Indian rupees were invested in the renovation of the stadium, 50 crore more than the earlier budget.

The major change that the stadium underwent was replacement of its earthen embankments that served as stands with rectangular seating bowl.

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