Indian Hockey & Sansarpur Hockey

Indian society has traditionally been a sport loving society. Games and sports have always been considered an integral part of Indian culture. Even in the older days sports and sportsmen were taken due care of by our ancient rulers. Certain sports were considered essential even for the members of royal society and budding rulers were supposed to master and excel in certain sports. Inspire of severe strains of money and lack of other physical facilities, now, the response for international sports events, when and wherever staged in India, elicit from general public and enthusiasm in generated by a small achievements by India in these events is hard to match elsewhere in the world. It will be in order to have a glance of various sports which have been popular in India over different historical eras and our achievements at International levels in those games and sports. As such an exercise will be helpful in ascertaining our major sports.

In Ancient India emphasis was on physical fitness and martial arts. The games which got top recognition were: boxing, chariot racing, horse and elephant riding, hunting, jumping, running, sword fight, wrestling, yogi Asians. In Mughal period, due emphasis was given to sports by Mughal rulers. Various sports which were popular in Mughal India are boating, swimming, hunting, shooting, fencing, wrestling, dancing, fishing and horse riding .

When Britishers came to India they brought several other sports to India. Some of these were adopted by Indians and gained popularity among Indian masses, few of them are hockey, football, cricket, tennis, gymnastics, athletics, golf , swimming, rowing, military marching, rhythmic exercises, scout and drills.

After gaining Independence successive Indian governments have also taken care of sports. Sports ministry and several Indian Sports associations were formed to strengthen the sports structure in Indian society. The games which are high on popularity rating among Indian masses at present are hockey, cricket, football tennis, wrestling , basket ball, volley ball, shooting, rowing, swimming, cycling, handball, weight-lifting, athletics, badminton, table-tennis, billiards, chess, ,kabuki, kho-kho .

Having briefly outlined the games played by Indians at various times, let us now look at the major achievements in sports by modern Indian sportsmen .

The biggest and the most prestigious international sport event is certainly “Olympics”. Overview of our performance in Olympics in about hundred years is presented below :

Number of Medals in Olympic Games ( 1896-2008 )

Other Notable Performance in Olympics (Near Misses)

Besides Olympics, we also had some successes at international level in some of the sports which are not included in Olympics. A brief account of such success is presented below :

a. Cricket : It is a sport which rank very high in popularity among Indian masses. India is a major force in international cricket as it is one of the eight test playing nations in the world. India has produce several top class cricketer over the years and has won several matches against all other test playing countries. Sweetest of those victories being our triumph in III World Cup, England, 1985.

b. Billiards : Billiards, though considered as an aristocratic game and not being very popular among masses is lately gaining popularity India has produced a handful players of International caliber who have won laurels at several international events Geet Sethi and Micheal Frerria are among the present Indian cueists who are respected all over the world for their mastering in this game.

c. Chess : Although the game is supposed to have Asian origins and is being played in India for centuries, it is only recently that we have achieved successes at international levels in this game and can boost of few Indian Grand Masters. Vishwanathan Anand being most celebrated of them.

d. Lawn Tennis & Badminton are although now included in Olympics, but Olympic is not their premier tournament. In international tournaments of tennis and badminton, we have only a few individuals like Krishanana, Amritraj in tennis and Prakash Padukone in badminton who have brought laurels to India.

e. Wrestling : Wrestling too has been a popular sport in India and though successes in this game at Olympics have been limited, we have done fairly well in other international tournaments. India has also produced some great wrestlers among whom names of Gamma and Dara Singh are the most famous.

Thus surveying the last hundered years sports scene, we find the only game where we have had most successes at international level is hockey. It is the game of hockey which can truly be called our national game. To Indian masses, nothing can be more prestigious in sports field than an Olympic hockey gold. Thus, the slipping standards in hockey became a matter of true national concern and it will be worth while to take up the present study which in turn will throw some light in causes of Indian debacle in hockey.

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