The history of sports in India dates back to the Vedic era . There are some well defined mantra in Atharvaveda –“Duty is in my right hand and the fruits of victory in my left hand” . In the same way ,the oath of Olympic hold the same sentiments i.e. – ‘For the honor of my country and glory of sports’.
As we know that playing sports develops team spirit , leadership skills ,goal setting and taking risk . It also develops friendly behavior , making and executing plan by analytical thinking.
The importance of sports in our life is invaluable . It keeps up fit physically as well as mentally .
There are several sports played in India . Hockey is the national sport of India and Cricket is the most popular sports in our country .
India won 35 medals in Olympics till now . 7 medals were won in Tokyo Olympics (Neeraj Chopra won gold medal in Javelin )
Recently , the performance of India is quite good in Commonwealth game 2022 where India won 61 medals ( 22 Gold , 16 Silver & 23 Bronze ) . Some gold medalists are Mira Bai Chanu ,Sakshi Malik , Lakshya Sen , Nikhat Zareen . Squash player ANAHAT SINGH became the youngest athlete to participate in commonwealth games.
Recently the PRIME MINISTER called youth to consider careers in sports & encourage the youth in our country to develop sport culture in India .
Despite these efforts , the performance of India in International competitions is poor .
Reasons for poor performance :- .
Lack of sports infrastructure
Poor coaching facilities.
Lack of funds for good equipment .
Lack of mental support and guidance .
Poor committee to develop competitiveness.
Government initiative to overcome poor performance :-
KHELO INDIA PROGRAMME for development of Sports in India
Govt. launched online registration portal of athletes , coaches and sports training centers i.e. National sports repository system
Govt. started to provide higher education in sports knowledge related to Physical Education
