India will make its twenty sixth look on the Summer Olympics this yr, and for that, they’ll return to Paris – the place the place the nation’s Olympic journey started. At least that’s the case within the data of the International Olympic Council (IOC). A complete of 111 athletes will symbolize the nation in France this yr, down from 124 on the Tokyo Olympics largely as a result of girls’s hockey group not qualifying. Interestingly although, it can solely be the twentieth time that the athletes can be taking part in for the Indian flag because it exists as we speak; the tricolour with the Ashoka Chakra within the center. For within the first 5 video games {that a} nation named India took half, it was below British rule and the flag that was used on the time was both the Civil Ensign of the time or the Viceroy’s flag.
Paris 1900 – A debatable begin
The 1900 Olympics was the second-ever version of the Games and, in line with IOC data, India’s first look on the multi-sport occasion. Norman Pritchard is the one athlete to have represented India that yr and he received silver in males’s 200m and males’s 200m hurdles. Pritchard remained the one athlete to have received a medal in athletics representing India till Neeraj Chopra received gold in javelin at Tokyo 2020. He nonetheless stays the one athlete to win two medals in the identical Olympics whereas representing India. It is to be famous that Pritchard is listed as having competed for Great Britain in 1900 within the official observe and subject data of the Games revealed by World Athletics in 2005.
Antwerp 1920 – India enters the Olympic Movement
While India’s participation within the 1900 Olympics is predicated nearly totally on the IOC data, the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, marks the nation’s entry into the multi-sport occasion for all sensible means and functions. It began off with Deccan Gymkhana President Sir Dorabji Tata requesting the Governor of Bombay Lloyd George to safe India’s illustration on the Olympics via the British Olympic Committee. The IOC granted India affiliation in February 1920 after which a committee led by Tata chosen a group. PC Bannerjee was chosen for sprints; PD Chaugule for the ten,000m and marathon; Sadashiv Datar for the ten,000m and marathon; HD Kaikadi for the 5,000m and 10,000m; Dinkarrao Shinde for bantamweight wrestling; and Ok Nawale for light-weight wrestling. Sohrab H Bhoot was supervisor and Dr AHA Fyzee was medical officer and adviser for the group.
Paris 1924 – India’s first feminine athlete
India made its third official look on the Games a century in the past in Paris. The first version of the National Games was held in Lahore some months earlier than the Olympics and sportspersons have been chosen for the journey to Antwerp primarily based on their performances within the occasion. The Indian contingent consisted of 14 opponents break up evenly throughout athletics and tennis. The latter included Nora Polley in girls’s singles and blended doubles, thus making her the primary girl to symbolize India on the Olympics.
Amsterdam 1928 – Start of the hockey domination
The 1928 Olympics marks a watershed second for India as this marked the primary time that the boys’s hockey group received gold. It was the group’s maiden look on the Olympics and it began a streak that might final till the 1956 Olympics. India topped a bunch that consisted of Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland and Austria. The Netherlands confronted them within the ultimate, having topped the opposite group that consisted of Germany, France and Spain and India received the match 3-0. Apart from the hockey group, six athletes represented India in athletics and one man, DD Mulji, turned the primary to symbolize the nation in swimming.
Los Angeles 1932 – Second hockey gold
India received their second hockey gold medal at LA 1928. Japan and the United States have been the one different groups who took half, with most international locations being unable to afford to ship a group to the USA as a result of Great Depression. The Indian group themselves needed to play exhibition matches at each cease on their lengthy journey by sea to Los Angeles. The competitors was nothing greater than a round-robin group stage with every group taking part in one another as soon as. India have been one of the best group by far, beating Japan 11-1 of their first match and the United States 24-1 of their second. Three athletes represented India in athletics as effectively whereas one, Nalin Malik took half in 400m freestyle swimming.
Berlin 1936 – Third hockey gold and Dhyan Chand’s final Olympics
Eric Whiteside ran the boys’s 100m and 200m whereas CSA Swami represented India in males’s marathon nevertheless it was the hockey group who received a medal as soon as once more, successful their third consecutive Olympic gold medal. A complete off 11 nations have been divided into three teams, with India clubbed with Japan, Hungary and the United States. India scored a whopping 20 targets of their three group stage matches and conceded none. They then beat France 10-0 within the semi-finals after which confronted hosts Germany within the gold medal match. It is reported that the Indian group have been uncharacteristically nervous earlier than the sport as that they had misplaced to Germany 4-1 within the earlier match performed between the 2 sides earlier than the Olympics. In reality, the Germans had restricted India to a single objective within the first half. India got here out all weapons blazing within the second half although, and went on to win the ultimate 8-1.
This was the final time India performed below the British flag on the Olympics and the final time Dhyan Chand performed on the Games. The scheduled 1940 and 1944 Olympics have been cancelled as a result of World War 2 and by the point the 1948 Games got here round, India was an impartial nation and Dhyan Chand, although nonetheless taking part in exhibition matches, was effectively into his 40s and never a part of the squad.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
