Sports of India

Popular sports in India include cricket, football, field hockey, lawn tennis, golf and chess. Though field hockey is the national sport of India, cricket is the most popular sport in the country.

Field hockey

Field hockey is India's national game. Until the mid 20th century, India dominated international hockey, winning 8 Olympic gold medals, the World Cup in 1975 and were runners-up in the 1973 World Cup. The Indian player Dhyan Chand, arguably the most famous Indian hockey player, was described as a 'wizard' by the European press. However, India's recent performance have been below par and India is currently ranked 8th in the world.

Even though cricket has by far overtaken hockey in popularity, hockey still strikes an emotional chord especially with the older generation. India's men's hockey team recently won the Asia Cup held in Chennai, defeating South Korea by a very convincing margin. However, they failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, the first time they have not made it to the Olympics since 1928.

Cricket

Cricket is by far India's most popular sport. It has contributed many famous players to the game such as Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Sunil Gavaskar , Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid. India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup under Kapil Dev, and finished as runner up in the 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 World Twenty20 in 2007 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The administrative body that runs both the international and domestic teams is called the BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India). There are two main domestic tournaments in India: the Ranji trophy and the Duleep Trophy.More recently, two Twenty20 leagues have started up; the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and the Indian Premier League (IPL). The two leagues are competing fiercely with each other. Most cricket boards have banned the ICL players.

Football (soccer)

Football (soccer) is one of the major sports in India. It was introduced during the British occupation, and in some areas of the country it is equally popular as cricket. India was an Asian powerhouse till the sixties, but gradually the standard of football has gone down compared to other countries and currently India ranks 153 in the FIFA Rankings as of the 29th of June 2008. India was the Asian Games Champion in 1951 & 1962 and were 4th in 1956 Melbourne Olympics. [ [http://www.the-aiff.com/achievements.php All India Football Federation ] ]

The AIFF (All India Football Federation) is the parent body of football in India. The league structure in India follows a pyramid pattern with the ONGC I-League at the top most tier. There were 10 teams in the inaugural I-League 2007-08. It is followed by 2nd Division National Football League, 3rd Division National Football League and Local Leagues. Apart from the leagues, The Federation Cup is India's premier knock-out Cup tournament.

The current I-League Champion is Dempo SC, Goa and winner of the Federation Cup is Kingfisher East Bengal FC, Kolkata.

Lawn tennis

Tennis is popular among Indians in urban areas. However, India's fortunes in the Grand Slams singles have been unimpressive although Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have won many Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles Grand Slam Titles. Leander Paes has also won an Olympic Bronze medal in the singles competition at the 1996 Atlanta Games.In Davis Cup, India have been runners-up twice, in the years 1974 and 1987. The most successful Indian men's singles players have been Vijay Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan, Ramanathan Krishnan and Leander Paes. Sania Mirza, is the only notable Indian woman tennis player, having won a WTA title and breaking in to the Top 30 WTA ranking.

Chess

It is thought that chess may have originated in India, although given that it can be seen to have been played as early as the eighth century, it is difficult to say where exactly it could have been originated. Nonetheless, in its early days, chess was played in India. It has been quite a popular game from the recent past, 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.

Kabaddi

Kabaddi originated from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the southern states of India, but is also popular in states of Punjab and Haryana.The sport highlights 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 forming 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 pin him down, which will earn their 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.

hooting

Shooting used to be a pastime for the maharajahs of India. Lately, India has produced several champions in shooting. Indian shooter,Abhinav Bindra,is the current Olympic champion,having won gold for India in the 10 m Air rifle event at the Beijing games 2008. In the 2003 world championships, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the bronze medal in the double-trap event in Nicosia. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the silver medal, the first shooting medal for the country in the Olympics. In 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships at Zagreb, Croatia, Abhinav Bindra won the 10m Air Rifle, Manavjit Singh Sandhu won the Trap event, and the Indian team won the Silver in the Trap event. At the 2006 ISSF World Cup Gagan Narang won the gold in the 10m Air Rifle event in Guangzhou, China, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the gold in the double trap event at Cairo, Egypt. Manavjit Singh Sandhu also ranked 2nd in the World Cup at Kerrville, TX, USA in 2006. In 2008, Ronjan Singh Sodhi won the World Cup in double trap at Belgrade with a world-record equaling performance. Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle at the 2008 ISSF World Cup. At the 2008 Olympics, Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal for India in the 10m air rifle event. This is the first individual gold medal for India in any Olympic discipline.

Formula One

The Formula One Motor Racing is gaining popularity in urban India. It is one of the fastest growing sports where viewership is concernedfact|date=August 2008. In 2010, New Delhi is slated to host the first ever Indian Grand Prix. Although at present there are no F1 circuits in India, there is an F3 circuit at Sri Perumbudur near Chennai.

In October 2007, the Indian multi-billionaire Vijay Mallya bought the under-performing F1 team Spyker and renamed it Force India. Force India F1 represents India's increased participation within Formula One.

India has also produced some good drivers. India's Narain Karthikeyan has driven for Team Jordan in 2005. He was the second test driver for Team Williams during 2006-07. Karun Chandok, arguably India's second best driver, has been competing at GP2 level and might feature with an F1 team in the future. Red Bull has expressed interest in him, and he recently tested for them at Barcelonafact|date=August 2008.

Badminton

Badminton is supposed to have originated in India 2000 years ago. Although India is not among the top teams, it has consistently produced players of high international ranking. Prakash Padukone and Puellela Gopichand have won the prestigious All England Badminton Championships. Badminton is a popular recreational sport all over India. Young talents like Saina Nehwal are emerging from different states.Saina Nehwal entered the quarters of the women's singles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Boxing

Boxing is one of the lesser profiled sports in India. India is yet to produce a world champion in any weight class. In November 2007, India's M. C. Mary Kom won the best boxer title and also secured a hat-trick of titles. India is a regular medal-holder at Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. In 2008 Beijing Olympics Vijender Kumar won a bronze medal in the middleweight boxing category and Akhil kumar and Jitender Kumar qualified for the quarterfinals.

Basketball

Basketball is primarily a school sport in India.

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.Fact|date=December 2007 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.

India right now has a National Rugby Union team. Well known Indian actor Rahul Bose is a member of the Indian Rugby 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.

Golf

Golf is an emerging sport in India. It is popular sport with the rich. It has not caught on with middle class and poor people due to the fact that it is expensive. However, there are numerous golf courses all over India. 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.

Examples of 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.

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 a few.

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, having secured 2nd in the 2003 World youth championships. This sport lacks sponsors at present.

Table tennis

Table tennis is a popular indoor recreation sport in India. It has caught on in states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which are now 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 the sponsors are not interested in the sport.

quash

Squash is a primarily recreational sport, commonly played in clubs in urban areas. Some of the leading Indian Squash Players are Ritwik Bhattacharya, Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Anwesha Reddy.

Bowling

In the recent past, bowling 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.

Polo

Polo probably 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.

Horse racing & Equestrian

While horse racing is inherited from the British Raj, it is still alive and kicking in most cities in India. There are Turf Clubs that host horse races in Calcutta, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Mysore and Hyderabad. Horse racing is mainly conducted in the winter season to take advantage of the relatively cooler temperatures. Equestrian events are also held within India regularly, with the Chennai Equestrian Academy playing host to national and world championship events.Recently, India earned bronze medal in the Equestrian event at the Asian Games 2006.

ailing

Sailing is popular among sailors that live on the coasts of India.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is almost non existent after school level. It bears similarities to a local sport from Maharashtra called Mallakhamb, which is a pursuit of police and armed forces in India. However, interest and participation in gymnastics have not gained much popularity.

Throwball

Throwball is a woman's sport, played mostly at school level. The game is slowly developing as a favorite among women.fact|date=July 2008

Baseball & Softball

Baseball has recently started to show up in India. Softball is played at school and university level.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey in India is almost nonexistent due to a lack of infrastructure. Despite this, the first national ice hockey championship was held in Jammu & Kashmir in 2003.

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.

now sports

Snow sports are uncommon in India due to a lack of snow except in the extreme north. Ski tournaments take place every winter in Gulmarg, Kashmir.

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, Shalabh Gahlaut, John Pollard.

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.

Though India due to media coverage has started to get on the worlds kayaking map with more people visiting every season. Damming of rivers though assures that the speciality of kayaking in India will soon be changed with short sections of runnable river between dams as against the multiday expeditions now!

epak takraw

Sepak Takraw is not very well known in India although it was a demonstration sport at the Delhi Asiad in 1982. [ [http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/02/03/stories/2005020300460400.htm The Hindu : Metro Plus Hyderabad / Sport : Takraw tourney to kick off ] ] The SEPAK TAKRAW FEDERATION OF INDIA with its headquarters in Nagpur, Maharashtra was founded on 10 September, 1982. It is recognised by the Indian Olympic Association and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, New Delhi since 2000 [ [http://sportal.nic.in/innerindex.asp?moduleid=26&maincatid=101&comid=2 Sportal - Sports Portal - GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ] ] . The Federation has so far conducted 14 Senior, 7 Junior and 6 Sub-Junior National Championship in different cities and is also conducting Federation Cup Tournament and zonal National Championship.

The game is very popular in the north eastern state of Manipur and some of the best players hail from Manipur. In the 22nd King’s Cup International Sepak Takraw Tournament held at Bangkok, the India men team lost in semifinal and claimed bronze in team event. In doubles event women team lost in semifinal but bagged bronze medals. [ [http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=38912&typeid=3&Idoc_Session=675c609a27ff40ff109ba1daaff8ed58 Sepak Takraw players and officials felicited :: KanglaOnline ~ Your Gateway ] ]

Rock climbing

Annual competitions promoting rock climbing are growing in strength. Some events draw over fifty participants and hundreds of viewers, which is relatively good for an evolving sport.

A growing number of climbers have entered the climbing scene in India, particularly in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Shillong, Kolkata, Indore and other parts of India.

Along with the increasing interest in climbing, multiple climbing walls are sprouting around the country. These walls probably number less than 30, most of them single walls with one or two routes at most.

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is not widely organized for a variety of reasons, including the availability of gear and support groups. It is pursued by individuals who use either locally modified cycles or imported mountain bikes. A group of Puneites have an online presence.

Scuba diving

Scuba diving is carried out in Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep islands, Karnataka, Goa, Malvan & Tarkarli. Andaman, Goa & Malvan are PADI certified centers.

Adventure race

The only adventure race in India is organized by NEF in Pune and is called Enduro3.

Others

Koozhangal

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

Kho Kho

Kho kho is a traditional Indian sport played by teams of twelve players who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team, only 9 players of the team enter the field. It is normally played at the school levels.

Ultimate Frisbee

Ultimate Frisbee is played in several cities in India. Chennai leads the sport in India in terms of number of people pursuing the sport [http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/chennai_ultimate_frisbee/] . Ahmadabad [http://ultimate.indicorps.org/] and Delhi [http://groups.google.com/group/delhi-ultimate] also have their own teams. In February 2008 Ahmedabad is hosting a tournament for teams from all three cities. Bangalore has an upcoming team as well. [http://www.learningtofly.in] .

References

External links

* [http://www.sportstaronnet.com/tss2738/stories/20040918005300800.htm The mystery of the missing medals]
* [http://yas.nic.in/ Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports]
* [http://www.indianwebtalk.com/index.php/board,85.0.html Free Sports Talk India]
* [http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2005-06/bag/bag4-2.pdf Budget for Sports in India]
* [http://www.gamesdelhi.com/ Games Delhi site: Commonwealth and Asian Games]