Best of Bharat People: Important milestones in the Indian sports

India

oi-Prakash KL

New
Delhi,
Aug
13:
Sports
has
never
been
a
career
option
in
India
for
decades
since
its
independence
in
1947,
but
it
did
not
stop
our
sportsmen
from
winning
medals
for
the
country.

With
or
without
the
support
of
the
government,
the
nation
has
managed
to
make
its
presence
felt
in
many
sports.
As
the
country
is
celebrating
its
Azadi
Ka
Amrut
Mahotsav
to
commemorate
the
75
years
of
independence,
it
is
time
for
us
to
revisit
some
of
the
important
milestones
in
Indian
sports.

Golden
period
of
Football
The
period
from
1951
to
1962
is
considered
the
golden
era
in
Indian
football.
Under
the
tutelage
of
Syed
Abdul
Rahim
India
became
the
best
team
in
Asia.
The
Indian
team
started
the
1950s
with
victory
in
the
1951
Asian
Games
which
they
hosted.
In
1952,
India
continued
their
form
by
winning
the
Colombo
Quadrangular
Cup
held
in
Sri
Lanka.
This
is
called
as
the
Golden
time
of
Indian
football.
As
four
years
earlier,
many
of
the
team
played
without
boots
but
after
the
result
in
the
Olympics
AIFF
immediately
made
it
mandatory
to
wear
boots.

India
also
won
three
further
editions
of
the
Quadrangular
Cup,
which
were
held
in
Burma,
Calcutta
and
Dhaka
in
1953,
1954
and
1955
respectively.
India
then
went
on
to
finish
eighth
in
the
1954
Asian
Games
held
in
Manila.

At
the
1956
Olympics
they
finished
fourth,
this
is
the
second
time
India
made
history
in
the
world
of
football.

India’s
1st
Medal
in
Olympics
In
the
1952
Summer
Olympics
wrestler
KD
Jadhav
won
the
first
individual
medal
for
independent
India.
After
Norman
Pritchard
who
won
two
silver
medals
in
athletics
in
1900
under
colonial
India,
Khashaba
was
the
first
individual
athlete
from
independent
India
to
win
a
medal
at
the
Olympics.

India
won
the
World
Cup
in
1975
beating
Pakistan
2-1
in
the
final
with
Ashok
Kumar,
the
son
of
wizard
Dhyan
Chand,
scoring
the
winning
goal.
India,
of
course,
had
reached
the
final
in
1973
but
lost
to
the
Netherlands
and
finished
third
in
1971.

Major
Milestone
in
Badminton
Prakash
Padukone
was
ranked
World
No.
1
in
1980
and
the
same
year
he
became
the
first
Indian
to
win
the
All
England
Open
Badminton
Championships.

Asian
Games
and
Golf
Golfer
Lakshman
Singh
won
the
individual
gold
medal
for
India
at
1982
Asian
Games.
This
sport
started
getting
popular
in
India
thereafter.
India
hosted
the
Asian
Games
on
two
occasions:
the
inaugural
1951
Asian
Games
and
the
1982
Asian
Games.

In
1982,
the
event
witnessed
record
turnout
and
India
ended
up
winning
13
gold,
19
silver,
and
25
bronze
in
an
overall
total
of
57
medals.

Turning
Point
in
Cricket
1983
was
the
turning
point
for
Indian
cricket
as
Kapil
Dev-led
team
did
unthinkable
by
winning
the
1983
World
Cup
by
defeating
mighty
West
Indies
team.
India
won
the
T20
World
Cup
in
2007
and
50-over
World
Cup
in
2011
under
Mahendra
Singh
Dhoni’s
leadership.

In
addition
to
the
above
mentioned
milestones,
there
have
been
many
individual
milestones.

• Milka
  Singh
  won
  gold
  medals
  in
  the
  1958
  and
  1962
  Asian
  Games.

• Karnam
  Malleshwari
  won
  a
  bronze
  medal
  in
  weightlifting
  in
  2000.

• Pullela
  Gopichand
  won
  all
  England
  Championship
  series
  in
  2001.

• Rajyavardhan
  Singh
  Rathore’s
  silver
  medal
  at
  Athens
  Olympics
  in
  2004.

• Abhinav
  Bindra
  became
  the
  first
  Individual
  gold
  medallist
  Form
  India
  in
  2008.

• Dipa
  Karmakar
  Finished
  4th
  in
  Gymnastic
  solo
  event
  at
  Rio
  Olympics
  in
  2016.

• PV
  Sindhu
  became
  world
  Champion
  and
  a
  double
  Olympic
  medallist
  2019,
  2016
  and
  2020
  Olympics.

• Sakshi
  Malik
  won
  bronze
  medal
  in
  the
  58
  kg
  category
  in
  2016
  Olympics,
  thereby
  becoming
  the
  first
  woman
  wrestler
  to
  achieve
  this
  feat.

• Saurabh
  Chaudhary
  Smashed
  Asian
  Games
  Record
  in
  2018.

• Neeraj
  Chopra
  won
  India’s
  First
  Track
  and
  Field
  Gold
  in
  Javelin
  Throw
  at
  the
  Tokyo
  Olympics
  in
  2018.