India In International Games

Till 2016, India has won 28 medals over 121 years. With 135 million people living there, it can be hard for every champion to win, as not everyone has the money to train. Even though India has a long history of sports, the country has been affected by invaders and even by independence. However, despite all obstacles, the nation has maintained its global position and encouraged more athletes to participate.

"Nation in Action": Ronojoy Sen, visiting senior research fellow and professor at the National University of Singapore, followed the history of sports in India from its inception to the present in his book A History of Sport in India. In his book, he talks about how sports went from being a kingly pastime for the nobility to becoming a national obsession and how it was linked to colonization, nationalism, and the liberalization of the free market.

At that time, no one would have imagined that casteism would play a significant role in social and economic equality. People of different castes and religions could not play together or get along well because of social stratification. The great Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata also mention swimming, archery, wrestling, hunting, and wrestling as traditional sports. Cricket was developed as a result of colonization and later adopted by India. The time when invaders, who were ruling India and had taken their monopoly, were still present. Even though they were treated badly, India still made it to the 1900 Olympics in Paris. Only Norman Pritchard, an Indian athlete, won silver medals in the 200-meter sprint and 200-meter hurdles. However, it is still up for debate whether he represented Britain or India.