Indian Sports
The British colonization of India in the 18th and 19th centuries had a significant impact on the country's rich sporting heritage. Although cricket is without a doubt the most popular sport, several other sports are also performed by a great number of people in this vast and populated nation. Some of the earliest martial arts, like musti yuddha, kalaripayattu, silambam, and marma adi, also have their origins in India.
A few board games are also played in India; the most well-known being the chaturanga, which is said to be the ancestor of contemporary chess. The emergence of several chess grandmasters from the nation serves to further support this. In terms of both territory and population, India is among the world's biggest nations.
One of the rare nations that has managed to keep its native games popular among its citizens is India. Pehlwani, kabaddi, silambam, yoga, thayam, aadu puli aatam, parama padam, carrom, kho kho, gili danda, ettu kodu, langdi, lagori, ainthu kallu, pallanguzhi, and malyutam are some examples of these classic games.
With cricket being the most popular, contemporary games have also swept over the Indian landscape. Additionally, India has hosted a number of athletic events, including the Commonwealth Games (2010), the Asian Games (1951 and 1982), the Cricket World Cup (1987, 1996, and 2011), and the Hockey World Cup.
Here are some legendary people who contribute their successful time for Indian Sports :
Dhyan Chand
Dhyan Chand is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players in history and a legend in his own right. The prolific Dhyan Chand, who was a star of the Indian hockey squad that dominated the sport before World War II, was instrumental in India's three straight Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932, and 1936. Dhyan Chand became known as "The Magician" and "Hockey Wizard" due to his exceptional skill in the game and his amazing ball control.
During his time in the British Indian Army, Dhyan Chand developed a significant interest in hockey. From 1922 to 1926, he participated in a number of regimental games and army hockey competitions. He was born Dhyan Singh in Allahabad, and his contemporaries dubbed him "Chand," which means "moon" in Hindi, since he frequently practiced at night beneath the moonlight after work.
When the newly established Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chose to send a team to the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Dhyan Chand was invited for the tryouts because he had pleased game observers during his time in the army.
Kapil Dev
The finest fast bowler and all-around player India has ever produced was Kapil Dev. He would have undoubtedly been regarded as the world's finest all-round player if he had played at any other period, not when Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham, and Imran Khan were his peers. In any event, he performed well enough to win the 2002 Cricketer of the Century award, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar.
His greatest achievements were taking the world record total of Test wickets from Hadlee, leading India to the 1983 World Cup almost jokingly, and setting an all-around example. The marathon runner's endurance, which ultimately led him to 431 wickets and only one yard more.
At his peak, he might not have been as good a bowler as Imran, Hadlee, or Botham, and he took fewer than four wickets each Test, but his precision and ability to swing the ball, mainly away from right-handers, were still exceptional. And with simple elegance, he could strike a ball even more spectacularly than he bowled it.
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar was born on April 24, 1973, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Perhaps the greatest cricket legend in history, Sachin Tendulkar was the most prolific run-maker of all time and the most complete batter of his era. Perfect balance, economy of movement, accuracy in stroke-making, and that intangible trait reserved for exceptional batters—anticipation—were the cornerstones of his batting. He was so good at so many that he could bring them out whenever he wanted to. If he didn't have a hallmark stroke, it was the upright, back-foot punch, which comes close.
Tendulkar's game showed no signs of frailty. He made runs in every climate and location on the planet, could score from both feet and all over the wicket, and could adjust his style of play to fit any circumstance. Against Australia, the dominant team of his time, he put on some of his best performances.
On a lightning-fast pitch at the WACA, he scored a century at the age of 19, which is regarded as one of the greatest innings ever played in that nation. The supreme batter, Don Bradman, gave him the highest tribute a few years later when he told his wife that Tendulkar made him think of himself.
Abhinav Bindra
Abhinav Bindra is an Indian entrepreneur and former sports shooter. In addition to winning an Olympic gold medal, he is the first Indian and one of just two to do so. As India's first Olympic individual gold champion, Abhinav Bindra will always have a special position in sports history. The highlight of Abhinav Bindra's incredible athletic career, which also included a World Championship gold and other medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, was winning the gold medal in the men's 10m air rifle event in Beijing in 2008.
The future Olympic champion was inspired by the shooters he watched on television and started his athletic career after being born in Dehradun on September 28, 1982. He immediately found success. As the youngest Indian competitor, the shooter traveled to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 after competing in the Commonwealth Games in 1998 at the age of 15.
He earned bronze in the World Cup, setting a junior record score at the time, and six gold medals at other tournaments, making it a breakout year. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he went on to win silver in the singles and gold in the 10m air rifle couples. At the Athens 2004 Olympics, Abhinav Bindra broke the Olympic record in the 10m air rifle event during the qualifying round. However, he struggled to recapture his best form in the finals and placed outside the podium spots.
Mary Kom
Mary Kom, a six-time world champion and Olympic medallist, is an undeniable boxing icon. Mangte Chungneijang "Mary" Kom was born into a low-income farming family in Manipur, although he showed talent as an athlete early on. But after seeing fellow Manipuri Dingko Singh win a gold medal at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, she made the decision to convert to boxing.
Mary left home at the age of 15 to train at the Imphal Sports Academy because she wanted to be a successful boxer. Additionally, she had to conceal her boxing training from her father, former wrestler Mangte Tonpa Kom, who was first opposed to her daughter participating in a fighting sport. Once Mary's picture appeared in the headlines following her victory as a state champion in 2000, Tonpa would learn of her secret.
After eventually gaining her father's approval, MC Mary Kom would go on to become a global sensation. Mary Kom earned a silver medal in the first global Boxing Championships in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when she was eighteen years old.
Saina Nehwal
The first badminton player from India to win an Olympic medal is Saina Nehwal. She was born in Hisar, Haryana state, on March 17, 1990. Nehwal won the bronze in the women's singles competition at the 2012 London Olympics. She has over 20 international honors to her name, and in 2016, the Indian government awarded her the coveted Padma Bhushan.
Nehwal began playing badminton in 1998 after relocating to Hyderabad from her birthplace of Hisar. Both of her parents were previous professional players. Her father took her to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium so she could learn more about the sport. After noticing Nehwal's skill, stadium coach Nani Prasad Rao persuaded her family to support her badminton career. To make sure Nehwal would succeed, her parents sacrificed money and offered their support.
In 2010, Nehwal received one of India's highest civilian distinctions, the Padma Shri. In 2012, she published her autobiography, Playing to Win. Nehwal married her longtime boyfriend and fellow badminton player Parupalli Kashyap in 2018.
Sania Mirza
Muslim parents Imran Mirza, a sports writer, and his wife Naseema, a printer, welcomed Sania Mirza into the world on November 15, 1986, in Mumbai. Her family relocated to Hyderabad shortly after she was born, raising her and her younger sister Anam in a devout Sunni Muslim household. She is a professional tennis player from India.
She has won six Grand Slam championships during her career and was rated as India's top player in both the doubles and singles categories by the WTA from 2003 till her retirement from singles in 2013. The best women's tennis player India has ever produced is Sania Mirza. As one of the highest-paid and most well-known sportsmen in India, Mirza has made a name for herself as the world's best-ever female tennis player.
In her remarkable career from 2003 to 2023, Sania Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam winner, a four-time Olympian, and a former world No. 1 in doubles, set new standards for Indian tennis.The Rio 2016 Olympics semi-finalist is India's most successful women's tennis player ever, having won 43 WTA doubles championships and one singles title. Sania Mirza has had most of her success in doubles, despite being the only Indian to place in the top 30 in the WTA singles rankings.
Geeta Phogat
A young girl from a typical Haryana home, Geeta defied numerous stereotypes about her patriarchal environment by becoming a wrestler. She was born a sports star who broke several records since her father, a wrestler himself, was motivated to coach his daughter. With the success of her biography, Dangal, Geeta became well-known and an inspiration to many.
She is the first female wrestler from India to earn a spot at the Summer Olympics. However, she became well-known after winning India's first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The whole country waited anxiously for her to win the women's wrestling medal in the 55-kilogram division. When Geeta qualified for the 2012 London Olympics, she trained with O.P. Yadav and Ryan Dobo in addition to her father, Mahavir Singh.
Her many other medals include the silver in the 2013 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship and the golds in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship and the Wrestling FILA Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament. In addition, she has won a few bronze medals. In 2012, Geeta took home the coveted Arjuna Award for wrestling.
Conclusion
Therefore we come to that point in our Indian sports history many men and women play the role for Indian position in world sports. Many other sports people have played for India who are not discussed above. The graph of Indian sports had a progressive way from time-to-time. Sport has a significant societal impact on inclusion because it fosters and strengthens social cohesiveness by allowing all individuals to participate, regardless of their physical, cognitive, psychological, or socioeconomic traits.
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