India is been considered as one of the versatile grounds for sports, be it cricket, chess, tennis, hockey, etc… it has proved its quality worldwide in terms of both, teams and games.
When talking about sports in Indian, undoubtedly Cricket occupies the center stage at the first place, but India is also renowned for many other games like Chess, athletics, weightlifting, tennis, gun shooting, etc… It has been a strong participant in the Commonwealth games, other Asian games, and even in the Olympics. Recently, the country accomplished the XIX Commonwealth games in Delhi in the year 2010 after huge loads of pressures on its head.
Being the national sports of India, Hockey didn’t get placed in the limelight always, as it been suppressed by many other sports in the country in addition to the political pressures. But, today’s Hockey sports in India is a much rejuvenated game inspiring many aspiring players to get into the team and play for the country. The Hockey India (HI), a new apex body had been established in India in the year 2009, which has got affiliated to the International Hockey Federation, the Olympic Association, and Asian Hockey Federation too. It’s been consistently rendered support from the Sports Authority of India, Department of Sports, Government of India for flourishing with more accomplishments and history of records in the world level. The fact that the Indian men’s Hockey team did win the first Olympic gold medal in the year 1928, being the first non-European team in the International Hockey Federation, is quite imperative, further the team remained unbeaten in the Olympics till the year 1956, thereby winning six gold medals. Likewise, the Indian women’s Hockey team is yet another Hockey pride of the nation, and had won gold medal in the Commonwealth games, Afro-Asian games, and Hockey Asia Cup. They were acclaimed the title of being the first winner in the Women’s Championship Challenge II in the year 2009, accomplished by defeating Belgium in the finals that happened in Russia. Moreover, the Indian Hockey Federation is continuously motivating the team and its development, by conducting the domestic Hockey tournament, namely the Premier Hockey League, since the year 2005.
There shouldn’t be any bewildered gestures regarding the glory of Cricket craze in India, which is almost being considered as the national sports though, and has got millions of spectators and fans throughout the country. The Indian Cricket team is one of the competitive teams till date, which has proved both the strong participations and winning strategies at the World Cup Cricket. They created history by winning the Cricket World Cup in the year 1983, which was an unexpected victory and also the first world cup for India. This induced more confidence in the sport, after which the team has never failed to entertain the audience, be it a victory or not and has a consistent success records of winning 445 test matches, 52% of one day internationals, world cup Twenty20, etc… until today. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) takes the full responsibility of governing the Indian team on Cricket grounds with Gary Kristen, the former South African cricketer as the coach for the Indian team and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the team’s captain, he has got the success records on his side till date, as under his captainship the team has won the inaugural World Cup Twenty20, 9 back-to-back ODIs, etc… Further, competent players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and the former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev who acted as the pillars in the World Cup Cricket battle in the year 1983 and many more are quite popular for their individual and world records.