Sport in India

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Common Sports in India include cricket (by far the most popular), soccer, field hockey,
lawn tennis, chess, etc. Although hockey is the official sport of India, cricket has become
much more popular.

The history of sports in India dates back to the Vedic era. Physical culture in ancient India
was fed by a powerful fuel--religious rites. There were some well-defined values like the
mantra in the Atharva-Veda, saying", Duty is in my right hand and the fruits of victory in
my left". In terms of an ideal, these words hold the same sentiments as the traditional
Olympic oath: ".......For the Honour of my Country and the Glory of Sport."

Indian wrestler exercising near Varanasi, 1973.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Cricket
• 2 Football
• 3 Field hockey
• 4 Lawn tennis
• 5 Chess
• 6 Kabaddi
• 7 Formula One
• 8 Badminton
• 9 Boxing
• 10 Basketball
• 11 Rugby
• 12 Golf
• 13 Billiards and snooker
• 14 Volleyball
• 15 Table tennis
• 16 Squash
• 17 Bowling
• 18 Polo
• 19 Horse racing & Equestrian
• 20 Sailing
• 21 Gymnastics
• 22 Throwball
• 23 Baseball & Softball
• 24 Ice hockey
• 25 Flat water & sea kayaking
• 26 Snow sports
• 27 Extreme sports (Adventure sports)
o 27.1 Whitewater kayaking
o 27.2 Rock climbing
o 27.3 Mountain biking
o 27.4 Scuba diving
• 28 Others
o 28.1 Koozahngal
o 28.2 Kho Kho
o 28.3 Ultimate Frisbee (Ultimate)
o 28.4 Sepaktakraw
o 28.5 Basque Pelota

• 29 External links
 [edit] Cricket
Image:Anal Kummball.jpg
Anil Kumble is the highest wicket-taker for India in both One-Day International and Test
matches
Main article: Cricket in India

Cricket is by far India's most popular sport. The origin of the game Cricket was gradual.
It evolved from various sources like a Scottish sport known as 'cat-and-dog' and a
thirteenth century pass-time called 'hand in and hand out'. The game which is played
today has its origin in the south eastern part of England. Cricket became a generally
adopted sport in the second half of the seventeenth century. The Hambeldon club which
was founded in about 1750 had played a significant part in the evolution of the game. It
was superseded by the Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C) with its headquarters at Lords,
London. This became the world authority of the sport and its sanctuary. An official
country championships began in England in 1873 and it became an International game
with the formation of the Imperial Cricket Conference (I.C.C) in 1909. The I.C.C
membership was confined only to the British Commonwealth countries. In 1956, the
name of Imperial Cricket Conference was changed to International Cricket Conference to
enable countries outside the common wealth to become its members.

India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup under Kapil Dev, and finished as runner-up in
2003 World Cup under Sourav Ganguly. India also won the first (and only) World
Championship of Cricket in 1985 under Sunil Gavaskar, and more recently, the ICC
Twenty20 World Cup under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Domestic cricket in India, though
not very popular, has major tournaments like Ranji and Duleep trophy. India has
produced many good cricketers but probably the best player was Sachin Tendulkar, who
is among one of the all time best batsmen and was noted by TIME magazine in its Asian
Heroes List.

[edit] Football
Main article: Football in India

[edit] Field hockey

Main article: Field hockey in India

Field Hockey is India's national game. Field hockey is hockey played outdoors in grass.
Till the mid 20th century India dominated international hockey winning 8 Olympic Golds
and the World Cup in 1975 and runners-up in 1973. Indian player Major Dhyanchand has
been referred as a 'wizard' and German chancellor Adolf Hitler once offered him a
Marshall rank in his army (although once he also confiscated Chand's stick and had it
torn apart and dissected to check for magnets, glue etc.) However, India's recent
performance has been below par and of the 12 nations which play this sport,India is
currently ranked 8th in the world. Even though cricket has by far overtaken hockey in
popularity, Hockey still strikes an emotional cord especially with the older generation.
India's Men hockey team recently won the Asia Cup held in Chennai, India defeated
South Korea with a very coinvincing margin giving hopes for a revival of fortunes in the
upcomming Olympics.

[edit] Lawn tennis

Tennis is popular among Indians in urban areas. However India's fortunes in the Grand
Slams singles have been unimpressive. The best result in Tennis for India has been placed
2nd in the Davis Cup (default as they refused to play against apartheid South Africa).
owing mainly to the performance of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Paes bagged a
bronze Olympic medal in 1996. Sania Mirza is India's highest ranked women. She was
the first Indian woman to qualify to the 3rd round of Wimbledon. She has also won a
WTA tournament

[edit] Chess
Chess originated in India. It is quite a popular sport, but players lack sponsors. India has
produced one of the all-time great chess players of the world Vishwanathan Anand. Other
grandmasters are emerging from different states, including Parimarjan Negi, world's
youngest International master and Koneru Humpy, world's junior champion.

[edit] Kabaddi
Main article: Kabaddi

Kabaddi originated from Punjab and Haryana states of India, agility and most importantly
hand eye coordination. This sport is played by a person called a "raider" goes to one side
where 4 teammates will be holding hands in a semi-circle. The raider has to try to touch
one of the teammates and run back to his line. But the teammates holding hands can grab
the raider and knock him down, which will earn his team a point. These are just the
simple rules, there are more complex rules. India bagged gold at the Asian Games 2006
men's event and won a gold in kabaddi world cup held in India.

[edit] Formula One

Main article: Formula One

The Formula One Motor Racing sport is gaining popularity in urban India. It is one of the
fastest growing sports as far as viewership is concerned. Since 2005, Narain Karthikeyan
(an Indian) has been driving for Team Jordan. He is also the second test driver for Team
Williams. Though no F1 circuits are in India at present, there is an F3 circuit at Sri
Perumbudur near Chennai.
[edit] Badminton
Badminton is supposed to have originated in India 2000 years ago. Although India is not
among the top teams, it does consistently produce players of high international ranking.
Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand have won the prestigious All England
Badminton Championships. Badminton is a popular recreation sport all over India. Young
talents like Saina Nehwal are emerging from different states. There are many more
players in it.It is been organising india coaching camp for the performancing players.
Madhya Pradesh is at top. Many players are now practicing for taking India at
top.(abhimanyu singh, sourabh verma, anusha nayak, vijeta bhargav and many more )
were selected for team.

[edit] Boxing
Boxing is one of the lesser profiled sports in India. Boxing does have school and national
championship matches. However India is yet to produce a heavyweight champion. In
November 2007, India's M. C. Mary Kom won the best boxer title for the third time and
created a hattrick. Today there are great boxers like Aruna Mishra, Sarita Devi, N. Usha,
Jenny Ralte, Lekha, Renu and Kalpana Chaudhary. India is a regular medal-holder at
Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. The English boxing champion is Indian.

[edit] Basketball
Basketball is primarily a school sport in India. However the sport has extremely poor
profile but has had The Harlem Globetrotters visiting the cities, Banglore, Chennai,
Hyderabad and Kochi. NBA superstar Kevin Garnett also went on an Adidas Tour of
India including the cities of Banglore, New Delhi, and the Taj Mahal

[edit] Rugby
The British introduced Rugby to India. The game is being played domestically for over
100 years now. The popularity of the game has increased over the last few years and the
game has spread all over the country. The main centres that play rugby are Mumbai,
Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore. Rugby is predominantly played in clubs but lot of
work is being conducted for grassroots development. The Indian Rugby Football Union
(IRFU), is the governing body of rugby in India and hosts the All India & South Asia
Rugby Tournament annually which is the premier national level tournament in the
country.

See also: Indian Rugby Team

India right now has a National Rugby Union team. India started playing internationally
since 1998. India has played 18 tests: Won 2, Draw 1, Lost 15. India also competes in the
7-a-side format at the international level but doesn't have a women's rugby team, though
there has been some evidence of women being trained for rugby.

[edit] Golf
Golf is a sport that is becoming popular in India. There are numerous golf courses all
over India. However, the sport is expensive and mostly corporates and the rich play the
sport. There is an Indian Golf Tour. Many Indian professionals have competed on the
Asian Tour and a few have made the top level European and PGA Tours. Among Indian
golf stars are Jeev Milkha Singh, who became the first Indian to make the top fifty of the
Official World Golf Rankings in late 2006, and Jyoti Randhawa. India's men's golf team
won silver at the 2006 Asian Games.

[edit] Billiards and snooker

Billiards and snooker are popular club sports in India. India has produced players of
international ranking, Geet Sethi, Michael Ferreira & Pankaj Advani to name some.

[edit] Volleyball
Volleyball is a sport played all over India, both in rural as well as urban India. It is a
popular recreation sport. India is ranked 5th in Asia and 27th in world rankings. Recently
India won the Asian central zone championships beating high-ranked teams like
Kazakhstan and Iran. India is doing well in the youth and junior levels. Secured 2nd in
the 2003 World youth championships.However this sport lacks sponsors.

[edit] Table tennis

Table tennis is a popular indoor recreation sport in India. States like West Bengal, Tamil
Nadu are producing a few world-class players.

Table Tennis Federation of India is the official sports body which controls the game in
India (http://www.ttfi.org/).

India had produced some good players like Kamlesh Mehta, Chetan Baboor and Achanta
Sharath Kamal who is currently ranked 90 in the world. He is also the current
Commonwealth champion. Chetan was ranked around 66 when he was at his peak.
Unfortunately the amount of money being pumped into table tennis in India is meagre as
compared to other games like cricket & golf. Due to the lack of good performances by
Indians in World Championships and Olympics has kept the sponsors uninterested in the
sport.

[edit] Squash
Squash is a recreation sport, played in clubs in urban areas. Over the last few years due
the efforts of Mr N. Ramachandran, Secretary General of the Squash Raquets Federation
of India, a world class facility has been constructed in Chennai, India. If not for petty
squabbles with factions in the North (New Delhi) and the West (Maharashtra) Mr
Ramachandran's legacy would indeed have been a fabulous one.

However, unaffected by the politics the juniors in the country are forging ahead. Led by
the erstwhile SRFI Academy pupils Saurav Goshal & Joshna Chinappa who have both
won the British Junior Open (the Wimbledon of squash). Ever more players are now
playing on the international circuit.

Some of the leading Indian Squash Players are - Ritwik Bhattacharya, Saurav Ghosal,
Joshna Chinappa and Anwesha Reddy.

Indian Squash Professionals (ISP) is a non-profit making organization, formed in 1993,

with the sole aim of promoting this game in India. The idea of forming ISP was born in
1993 by its Founder Director Mahendra Agarwal. It was in January 1993 that India had
first ever squash tournament (since 1947 ) only for the Professionals or markers as they
are known in India.

Between January 1993 till date, they have organized 63 tournaments, 25 free coaching
camps all over India (including Rajkot, Jodhpur & Mussorie), adopted 5 players (Arif
Paul, Deepali Anvekar, Priyanka Yadav, Abhishek Pradhan and Ankita Sharma).

[edit] Bowling
In the recent past this sport has gained some popularity in urban India, but is still a
recreational sport and not yet considered as a competitive sport. It involves expensive
infrastructure and space which is hard to come by in many Indian cities. 'Bowler's Den'
has recently come up in Kolkata for people who take interest in Bowling.

[edit] Polo
It is supposed that polo originated in India, the Mughal emperors being the first players.
Considered a royal game, polo is popular in the Indian army as well as in northern India.

[edit] Horse racing & Equestrian

Horse racing derbies are held in many cities in the winter season. In recent past, India
earned bronze medal in the Equestrian event at the Asian Games 2006.

[edit] Sailing
Popular among sailors that live on their coasts of India.
[edit] Gymnastics
Almost non existent after school level. Bears similarities to local sport from Maharashtra
called Mallakhamb. This has been pursued by police and armed forces of India, but
Gymnastics in general has not gained much popularity. There are some schools in urban
India (e.g. Mumbai) and Maharashtra state. But popularity to participate remains low.

[edit] Throwball
A woman's sport, played mostly at school level. The game is slowly developing as a
favorite among women. It's a healthy sport that ensures exercise for young women and at
the same time does not require them to push too hard.

[edit] Baseball & Softball

These sports have recently started to show up. Softball is played at school and university
level.

Maharashtra is leading on the same followed by Punjab & Delhi team.

Now softball is growing in other states of India also.

Almost all the universities has this game It is played in 3 age groups:-

1) Subjunior

2) Junior

3) Senior.

[edit] Ice hockey

Though still in a primitive stage, the first national championship was held in Jammu &
Kashmir in 2003.

• Ice Hockey in India

[edit] Flat water & sea kayaking

Indian flat water kayakers are considered emerging powerhouse in the Asian circuit.
Aside from professional flat water kayaking, there is very limited recreational kayaking.
Potential to generate interest in flat water kayaking is held by leisure resorts located near
sea or other water bodies. But most often than not, Indian tourists consider kayaking a
one time activity and not a lifestyle sport to be pursued. As such any exposure to
Kayaking at these resorts is lost on India.

[edit] Snow sports

Except for skiing, snow sports are non existent, mainly due to the lack of snow except in
the extreme north. However, ski tournaments take place every winter in Gulmarg,
Kashmir.

[edit] Extreme sports (Adventure sports)

Definition of extreme sports as applied globally might differ in India. With a cultural
mindset towards sports as an activity pursued by frivolous, any pursuit of sport might be
considered extreme. But for benefit of semantics, we will try to stick to sports that truly
maybe considered extreme in their nature of variables that add that element of adrenaline
rush to a sporting activity.

[edit] Whitewater kayaking

Whitewater kayaking has its rabid enthusiasts mostly concentrated in north towards
Himalayas, and some in the south on the Kali River, in Karnataka. Most of these
enthusiasts are or were Whitewater Raft guides who took to the sport of Whitewater
kayaking.

Some of the prominent WW Kayakers based on their blip on the internet include -
Abhinav Kala (http://treknraft.com/), Shalabh Gahlaut (http://kayakindia.com/), John
Pollard (http://www.kalirafting.com/).

Many of these above and other WW Kayakers have notched first descents (similar to
Climbing Ascents), on rivers in India and Nepal. The race for first descents is probably
what will fuel the imagination of Indian WW Kayakers in the future.

Gear availability is another problem that plagues Indian WW Kayakers. While the global
designs for WW boats and paddles changing annually, Indian WW Kayakers have to pay
heavy duties for importation of any of the gear, or have buy used gear in Nepal and still
end up paying terrible amount of duties. More often than not, you will see Indian
Kayaking guides riding down the river in a Perception Amp or Piroutte or Dancer kind of
design while the Kayakers from abroad in their new design, planing hull, centered
volume kayaks from Riot, Pyranha or Wavesport. While the Indian guide will have a
battered paddle bought many seasons back, and probably an inch or two longer, the
international newbie tourist will sport a bent shaft ultra-light weight paddle that probably
costs as much as Rs.30,000 or more (and know not which edge of the paddle dips in the
water).

[edit] Rock climbing

A growing percentage of climbers have evolved into the climbing scene in India. A
vibrant scene is evolving in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Shillong, Kolkata and other parts
of North East and North.

Annual competitions promoting Rock Climbing are growing in their strength (this is a
relative term but imagine over fifty participants and hundreds of viewership - not bad for
an evolving sport.)

Along with the increasing interest in climbing, multiple climbing walls are sprouting all
over the country. The number of these climbing walls is probably less than 20-30 all over
the country (and many of these are just single wall with one or two routes at most.)

[edit] Mountain biking

Not largely organized for reasons as stated above, availability of gear, support groups,
etc. But being pursued by individuals based on either locally available modified cycles,
or imported mountain bikes. A group of Puneites have an online presence.

[edit] Scuba diving

Scuba diving and other adventure sports are played in the Andaman & Nicobar and
Lakshdeep islands.

[edit] Others
[edit] Koozahngal

This is a game played in south part of India,in Tamil Nadu.

[edit] Kho Kho

Kho kho is an old game of speed and cunning involving many individuals. Mostly played
by girls.

[edit] Ultimate Frisbee (Ultimate)

Ultimate Frisbee is played in small pockets in India. Chennai city leads the sport in India
in terms of number of people pursuing the sport [1]. Ahmadabad [2]& Delhi also have a
few players pursuing this sport.

[edit] Sepaktakraw

This game is not that popular in India. Most people in India haven't heard of this game.
After this game was included in the Asian games, it became better known. It is not sure
whether India has a sepaktakraw team. Some evidence have been found from this website
[3]. India has participated in Sepaktakraw competition in the 2006 Asian games. They
have played many matches but lost all of them except for one. In the men's regu section
India had beaten Iran 2-0.

[edit] Basque Pelota

Basque Pelota is rare in India, though India has a Basque pelota federation, All India
Pelota Vasca Federation.

American Football is non existent in India both in terms of viewership and profile.

Australian rules football Currently has a very small interest in India.[