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."

Contents

[edit] Cricket

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 It was superseded by the Marylebone Cricket Club (M.C.C) with its headquarters at Lords, London.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.

In recent years, India achieved tremendous success in cricket, winning 1983 World Cup under Kapil Dev, and finishing as runner-up in 2003 World Cup under Sourav Ganguly. Domestic cricket in India has major tournaments like Ranji or Duleep trophy.Cricket is not India's national sport.

[edit] Football

Main article: Football in India

Football is very popular in India[1]. In recent years, the broadcast of the FIFA World Cup and foreign leagues such as the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga have increased the popularity of football in urban areas [2]. Many Indians keenly follow local as well as South American and European clubs. The sport is most popular in Goa, West Bengal, and Kerala. The National Football League (NFL) is the premier football league in India. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are the most popular football clubs in India. In September 2006, India and Brazil signed an agreement to formalise a scheme to train Indian footballers and coaches[3]

[edit] Field hockey

India was once the best international team in the world. The team had won many medals and had many great players. Field Hockey is India's national sport.India has won 8 Oplymic Golds and the World Cup in 1975 and runners-up in 1973

[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). However India have won quite a few doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam trophies 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.

[edit] Kabaddi

Kabaddi originated from Punjab and Haryana states of India, agility and most importantly hand eye cordination. 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 complexed rules. India bagged gold at the Asian Games 2006 men's event and won a gold in kabaddi world cup held in india

[edit] F1

The Formula One Motor Racing sport is gaining popularity in urban India. It is one of the fastest growing sports as far as viewship 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. Although India is not among the top teams, it does consistently produce players of high international ranking. Prakash padukone and Gopichand have won the prestigious All England Badminton Championship. Badminton is a popular recreation sport all over India. Young talents like Saina Nehwal are emerging from different states.

[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 Nov 2007, India's M. C. Mary Kom won the best boxer title for the third time and created a hatrick. 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 primaraly a school sport in India. The game is popular in most urban schools. However at higher levels, the sport has a very poor profile.

[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 grassroot 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 & champion 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 but India does not have a world class team as yet.

[edit] Table tennis

A popular indoor club sport, table tennis is a popular recreation sport all over the country. States like West Bengal are producing some great, world-class players.

[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] Pool

A preferable sport in India, not enjoyed primarily by many but has rising interest. Many pool clubs are spawning at every corner for recreational purpose across Indian cities.

[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 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 navy sailors and those attached to sailing clubs.

[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.

[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 sking, 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. With the growing population of climbers (check out resources: http://rockclimbing.com/forums/links.php?id=156), gear availability is becoming a reality (http://www.aviindustries.com/).

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

Koozahngal
This is a game played in South Part of India.

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

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 [1]. 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.

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

Frizbee
Frizbee is extremley rare in the main India. [2]

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.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

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