• India has a history of sports dating back to the Vedic period. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport; it generates the highest television viewership, with the Indian Premier League (IPL) being the most-followed league in the country. Football has also gained popularity, with the Indian Super League (ISL) being the highest level of domestic football, and the national team winning multiple gold medals at the Asian and South Asian Games. Additional football accomplishments include India having reached the Group stage of the 1960 Olympics, qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and won the SAFF Championship. Other sports include kabaddi, badminton, tennis, and athletics, with kho-kho becoming the fourth-most viewed sport. India has also had success in field hockey, winning the World Cup and multiple medals in the Olympic Games. Sports such as golf, rugby, boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, motorsport, wrestling, and basketball are featured throughout the country.
• Cricket still beats football in India as the most popular sport.
• India's diverse culture and people have influenced the wide variety of sports, with indigenous sports such as fighter kite and boat racing being popular in some regions. Other indigenous sports include chess, kho kho, cycling, polo, snooker and rugby, subject to location. Water sports, like scuba diving, boating, surfing, and kiteboarding, frequently appear in coastal areas. Professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) are popular among young audiences, with some Indian wrestlers achieving international success. India has hosted the Cricket World Cup three times and won it twice. Field hockey is the most successful sport for India at the Olympics, with the Indian men's team winning twelve Olympic medals—eight of which were gold. Although it is not considered a professional sport, cycling is a recreational activity and exercise in India.
• Domestic professional commercial sports leagues in the country include Premier Handball League, the IPL and Women's Premier League, Indian Super League, I-League (football), Pro Kabaddi, Hockey India League, Premier Badminton League (Badminton), Ultimate Table Tennis league, Prime Volleyball League (Volleyball) and Ultimate Kho Kho (Kho–kho). The major international sporting events that are annually organised in India include the Indian Open, India Open, and India Open. Kabaddi, an indigenous sport, is widely regarded as one of the fastest growing sports in India, following the launch of the Indian domestic Pro Kabaddi League. The sport has garnered substantial television viewership, contributing to its popularity and elevating its monetary value. Women's sports have also grown in India, with professional leagues including the Women's Premier League and Women's Kabaddi League.
• India has hosted several international sporting events, including the 1951 and 1982 Asian Games; the 1987, 1995, and 2016 South Asian Games; the 2010 Commonwealth Games; the 2014 Lusofonia Games; the 1987, 1996, 2011, 2016, 2021 Men's Cricket world cups; and the 1978-, 1997-, 2013-, and 2016-Women’s Cricket World Cups. India has hosted editions of the SAFF Championship in 1999, 2011, 2015, 2023; SAFF Women's Championship in 2016, and junior FIFA world cups including the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, 2022 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup of football. India will host the 2023 ODI, 2026 T20, 2031 ODI Cricket World Cup, and 2025 Women's World Cup of Cricket.
• The world's oldest stadium with terraced stands was constructed in Dholavira, Gujarat, during the third millennium BCE. Two stadiums have been identified at the ancient site: one is considered a ceremonial ground, and the other a small stadium.
• Sports were evident during the Vedic era. Physical culture in ancient India was fuelled by religious rights. The mantra in the Atharvaveda says, "Duty is in my right hand and the fruits of victory in my left.". This resembles the Olympic Oath: "For the Honour of my Country and the Glory of Sport."
• The modern game of badminton developed from an English children's game known as battledore and shuttlecock, a game that was most prominent in ancient India. The battledore was a paddle and the shuttlecock was a small feathered cork, colloquially called a bird.
• India has a rich heritage of martial arts. martial arts were one of the earliest sports used for military purposes and reliable with this. In the Mahabharata and Ramayana, Bhima and Hanuman were the greatest Gadadhari (transl. One who fights with Gada (the Mace weapon)) and were skilled in wrestling. Lord Krishna's brother Balarama was a great Gadadhari. During the era of the Mahabharata, Pandava prince Arjun and Ekalavya were expert archers. Kalaripayattu is practised by some as a traditional martial art in South India.
• The Mahabharata is a tale of warring cousins (Pandavas and Kauravas) It was believed that this book contained all aspects of Indian life, and whatever was said which was not in the book was not true. Going back to the history of sports, this too was limited to only the warrior caste, the Kshatriya. In ancient Greece, the patriarchy was very strict, and likewise ancient India restricted their sports to only men.
• Board games, including chess and snakes and ladders, originated from the ancient Indian games chaturanga and gyan chauper respectively; these were later brought to foreign countries, where they would be modernized. Chaturanga taught ancient Indians how to strategies for war, and the other board games often imparted spiritual values.
• Several Indian variations of tag, such as kabaddi and kho-kho, originated in prehistoric times, with kho-kho being played as far back as the fourth century BCE. Atya-patya, a variant of tag, was mentioned in the Naṟṟiṇai (written in 300 CE). Kabaddi and atya-patya in particular were used for military training purposes. During the rule of the Mughal Empire, pehlwani, a form of wrestling, was developed by combining native malla-yuddha with Persian varzesh-e bastani.
• Several other activities were partaken in for recreation, such as hunting, gambling in dice-games, etc.
• During the colonial period, British India competed at six Olympic Games, winning medals in field hockey, British sports were introduced into India during that period. Some Indians were variously participating in British sports to rise up the social hierarchy by imitating their colonisers as well as aiming to achieve victory against the British in their sports. The British also aimed to spread their sports among Indians as a way of spreading British values. Efforts were made to develop the native games of India during this time period; this led to the successful standardisation of games such as kabaddi and kho-kho, as well as their demonstration in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
• In the early days, the British began clubs, which only whites could join. These clubs were a place where men could gather together to drink, socialize, and play sports. British soldiers would play British sports as a way of maintaining fitness, since the mortality rate for foreigners in India was high at the time, as well as to maintain a sense of Britishness; in the words of an anonymous writer, playing British sports was a way for the British to "defend themselves from the magic of the land". The different games played in the clubs would be cricket, badminton, rugby, golf, and rowing.
• Snooker originated in the late 19th century among British Army officers stationed in India. Modern polo originated in British India in the 19th century in Manipur, where the game was known as Sagol Kangjei, Kanjai-bazee, or Pulu. The name polo is the anglicized version of the lattermost term. The first polo club was established in Silchar, Assam, in 1833. The oldest polo club still in existence is the Calcutta Polo Club, which was established in 1862.
• Dorabji Tata, with the support of Dr. A.G. Noehren, the then-director of YMCA, established the Indian Olympic Association in 1927.
• One of the world's earliest football clubs, the Mohun Bagan was established in 1889. The club was formed when The Football Association began making standard rules for football. Before FIFA, the international governing body of football was founded.
• India has been under direct British colonial rule since 1858, and showed constant political, social, and cultural resistance throughout history. Though the British Raj has attained direct control over the subcontinent, there is a perspective that the Native Indians were able to cultivate their own form of national empowerment and a sense of implicit sovereignty through means of sport.
• The British used sport as another conduit of transferring British socio-political ideas, culture, and beliefs into the fabric of India's system. As Australian author Brian Stoddart writes in his article on British sports and cultural imperialism, “Colonial governors were especially important in emphasizing cricket as a ritual demonstration of British behaviour, standards, and moral codes in both public and private.” Despite many Indians being a part of white-dominated sports teams, there was an inevitably constant re-emphasis of the superior and inferior race ideology within the teams. During this era, there was a prevailing mindset amongst the British colonizers, being the fact that they viewed the Indians through a lens of superiority, which was reflected through socio-political events, specifically through sports. The British believed that the Indians were the inferior and effeminate race, taking the opportunity of sport as a mission to mold, reshape and therefore improve the Native race into a stronger, more physically capable race. However, unsurprisingly, the native Indians were not keen on giving up their traditions to follow their colonizers, as author Subhadipa Dutta emphasizes through the quote of “the colonized were not always fascinated to ‘mimic’ the manly gestures and leisure pursuits of their white masters.” To illustrate this, in his book, Ramachandra Guha has delved deep into the political aspect of religion, race and caste within sports teams, especially cricket. Guha successfully highlights the significance of the socio-cultural factors that are entwined in cricket, and how it encouraged the indigenization of the sport.
• Consequently, a strong desire stemming from frustration arose from the Indians; a desire to essentially reclaim their country that has been controlled by Europeans. The theory that Indians resisted British colonialism through sports to regain power over their country has been evident in various scholarly articles, books, and monographs. Specifically, in the 1963 memoir Beyond a Boundary, Tranidian Marxist intellectual C. L. R. James compares Indians on the field to Greek drama plays: “selected individuals played representative roles which were charged with social significance.” The author explains that there is irony between the English origins of the sport and the means of which Indians use it as a way to express their national identity – an identity which they feel was stolen from them as a result of the British Raj or ruling. This is further evident through the quote of “... [S]ocial and political passions denied normal outlets, expressed themselves so fiercely in cricket precisely because they were games.”
• Furthermore, emphasizing and delving deep into its meanings, the memoir offers crucial points regarding the concept of native Indians expressing sovereignty within the games that they play. The memoir leads the reader to speculate beyond the meaning of cricket being a game for pleasure to view Englishness as an inherent and leading force within the actual sport. Through the lens of James’ memoir, the sport evolves into a nuance where Englishness intersects with West Indian identity formation, both in and beyond the field. Indians used sports as a gateway or an opportunity to regain national pride and identity, ultimately fighting against the British narrative. The colonized therefore developed their own physical strength and power while confronting and rejecting the components of imperial ideology. They developed proud self-image throughout time as a significant step for achieving freedom and establishing popular sovereignty, which underscores the revolutionary power of resistance among Indians against their British colonizers through harvesting strength and national self-determination and identity.
• When India won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, cricket rose to popularity, while field hockey was declining. International sport and sporting leagues quickly grew in India after the economic liberalisation of the 1990s, which allowed more money to be invested into sports. The Indian Premier League (IPL), which started in 2007, quickly became the most dominant league in the country and is highly influential in global cricket; by 2022, it was only behind America's National Football League in terms of being the most valued league in the world on a per-match basis. Several other sports leagues quickly popped up after the IPL, with the Indian Super League becoming one of the biggest leagues and playing a significant role in Indian football. Other leagues (such as the Pro Kabaddi League, Ultimate Kho Kho, and the Pro Panja League) contributed to the modernisation of indigenous sports. Kabaddi has become an international sport, with countries such as South Korea and Iran playing it.
• Several factors have explained India's lack of success in international sport, such as economic hardship, lack of emphasis on sports in Indian culture, corruption, and a lack of investment in sports. In recent decades, the Government of India and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports have tried to promote sports in the country by launching and organising new national sports events such as the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), Khelo India Winter Games, and Khelo India University Games (KIUG) of Khelo India games in various cities across the nation. The first Khelo India School Games was held in 2018. KIYG and KIUG are set up as annual events for children and teenagers, who represent their states and universities in them.
• India founded the Asian Games, which is considered to be the world's second-largest sporting event behind the Olympic Games as a way to make itself relevant in the new post-colonial world order. It hosted the Games in New Delhi for the inaugural edition in 1951 and again in 1982. The current Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports was initially set up as the Department of Sports in 1982 at the time of organisation of the Games in New Delhi. Its name was changed to the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports during International Youth Year in 1985. India has also hosted and co-hosted several international sporting events, including the 1987, 1996 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2010 Hockey World Cup, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Major international sporting events annually held in India include the Chennai Open, the Mumbai Marathon and the Delhi Half Marathon. The country hosted the first Indian Grand Prix in 2011. The largest stadium in the world, the Narendra Modi Stadium, is in India.
• The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a ministry of the Government of India for sport in the country. Anurag Thakur is the incumbent sports minister of India.
• The ministry is run by a Secretary to the Government of India, and is usually headed by a Minister of State. A ministry-recognised National Sports Federation of India (NSFOI) represents each Olympic and non-Olympic sport—the only major exception being the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is not an NSFOI. As of 2019, 56 NSFs are recognised by the ministry. The presence of politicians at the helm of many such federations has been criticised for causing inefficiency and corruption.
• For each sport, India has a separate governing body. These include the All-India Football Federation for football, National Rifle Association of India for shooting, and Boxing Federation of India for boxing.
• The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is responsible for the Indian contingent's participation in the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games (outdoor, indoor and beach), South Asian Games, Lusofonia Games, World Games and Military World Games. The selection of the national teams is done by the respective national federations and then recommended to the IOA for official sponsorship for participation in those games. The Paralympic Committee of India is responsible for the Indian participation in the Paralympic Games and Asian Para Games. The All-India Sports Council for the Deaf is responsible for India's participation in the Deaflympics Games, and the Special Olympics Bharat is responsible for India's participation in the Special Olympics.
• The Association of Indian Universities is responsible for India participating in the Universiade Games, while the School Games Federation of India is responsible for India's participation in the Gymnasiade Games.
• Athlete Norman Pritchard represented India in the 1900 Olympics, winning two silver medals. India sent its first national team to the Olympics in 1920 and has participated in every Summer Olympic Games ever since. India has also competed at several Winter Olympic Games since 1964.
• As of 2021, India has won a total of 35 Summer Olympic medals. India won its first gold medal in men's field hockey at the 1928 Olympic Games. On winning the 10m air rifle event at the 2008 Olympics, Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. In 2021, Neeraj Chopra won the men's javelin throw gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
• India has competed in all but four editions of the Commonwealth Games since the second Game in 1934. India has hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010 at Delhi. India has won a total of 504 medals, including 181 gold medals.
• India has participated in every edition of the Asian Games, and has hosted the Games in 1951 and 1982 in New Delhi. As of 2018, India has won 671 medals, of which 139 are gold. India has won at least one gold medal in each tournament; its performance in the Asian Games has improved significantly in recent years.
• India has participated in every edition of the World Games (where they won five medals) and the South Asian Games (where they ranked first place). India has also participated in the Lusofonia Games.
• India was in the Deaflympics Games, Special Olympics Games, Military World Games, Universiade Games, Gymnasiade Games, and Paralympic Games.
• The National Games of India are conducted by the Indian Olympic Association and are meant to identify athletes who would later go for the Olympics. The first National Games (formerly called the Indian Olympic Games), were held in Lahore in 1924, while the first modern Games were held in New Delhi in 1985.
• Uriyadi involves smashing a small earthen pot with a long stick, usually with a cloth wrapped around the eyes to prevent the participants from seeing the pot. Seasonal sports such as Dahi Handi also have a following.
• Other regional sports include Ilavatta kal where huge spherical rocks are lifted, and Nondi, which is a hopscotch game played by folding one leg and hopping squares. Other regional games such as atya patya, hide-and-seek, Top, Lagori, Sack race, Blindfold-game, Nimbu Chamcha, Chase, langdi, surr, gatka, mallakhamb, chor police and Dhaba Kuti have dedicated followers, with kids playing most of these games. Indoor games include Pallanguzhi involving beads, Bambaram involving the spinning of a top, Dhayakattai which is a modified dice game, Aadu puli attam, Nungu vandi and Seechangal.
• Other sports and games including Air sports, Water sports, Triathlon, Pentathlon, Arm Wrestling, Bowling, Ball Hockey, Soft tennis, Australian rules football, Triathlon, Pentathlon Pentathlon, Arm Wrestling Darts, Frisbee, Fist ball and Tennikoit have dedicated followers and their own national sports federations.
• India has achieved success in some of these games. They have won a silver medal at 2019 Ball Hockey World Championship. They have won five medals, including two gold at Commonwealth Tenpin Bowling Championships. They have won two medals at Asia-Pacific Fist ball Championships.
• The nation has a lot of firms that manufacture sport equipment. Some notable Indian brands are Sanspareils Greenland’s (SG), BDM and TYKA. According to a report, sports equipment businesses of India were worth of US$20 bn in 2020. It is estimated that in 2027, the industry will be worth US$100 bn. Jalandhar is a sport goods hub, and as per The Print, it is worth US$241,569,000. Meerut is another sport good industry hub in India, which exports sports goods around the world.
• The leading sports equipment manufacturing brands in India are Nivia, Cosco, Provogue (manufactures sportswear’s and apparels), Seven (footwears, casuals and sportswear’s), SIX5SIX (sportswear’s, equipment), SS.
• Nivia is the official ball partner of ISL and the Basketball Federation of India.