The National Games of India consist of various disciplines in which athletes from the different states of India participate against each other. The country's first few Olympic Games, now renamed as National Games, were held in Lahore, Delhi, Allahabad, Patiala, Madras, Calcutta and Bombay.
The Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, also known as Balewadi Stadium, is a sports complex located in Pune, India. The complex is situated about 15 km from downtown Pune and 5 km from Hinjawadi. This complex was a venue for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, Khelo India Youth Games in 2019 and AFC Women's Asian Cup.
India has a history of sports dating back to the Vedic period, with Western sports having been imported during British rule. 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 Groupstage 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.
The Palarong Pambansa is an annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from 17 regions of the Philippines. The event, started in 1948, is organized and governed by the Department of Education.
Balewadi is a residential suburban town of Pune, located in the city's Western Metropolitan Corridor. It is famous for the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex which had hosted both the National Games in 1994 and the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. The complex had also hosted the second edition of Khelo India Youth Games, which kicked off on 9 January 2019.
Chandra Sekhar Sahu is a former Indian weightlifter who won the gold medal in the men's 75 kg event at 1991 South Asian Games.
The 2013 Asian Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the biennial athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, India between 3–7 July. Around 522 athletes from 42 nations competed at the event. It was the first time since 1989 that India had hosted the championships.
Trupti Murgunde is an Indian Badminton player who plays singles & doubles. She is a Dhyan Chand Awardee. The shuttler, who was born in Pune, has won the 2009 National Championship for women after remaining runners up for 3 times. She was also senior nationals doubles runner-up and junior national doubles champion. Trupti is also a five times South Asian Games gold medalist, including twice in singles in 2004 and 2006. Known for her deceptive strokes, she has also bagged 6 international titles in singles in BWF events from 1999 to 2014. Trupti is also a Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist in Team Event at Melbourne in 2006. She, along with Saina Nehwal, reached the semi-finals of the women's doubles event in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games but lost in the Bronze Medal Playoff.
Sports play an integral part of culture in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport in the state. Other popular sports include kabaddi and kho kho, which are played in rural areas, and field hockey, badminton, and table tennis, which are more common in urban areas, schools, and colleges. In the state's southern rural regions, annual wrestling championships such as Hind Kesari and Maharashtra Kesari are held. Games like Viti-Dandu and variations of Tag are played among children.
Rucha Pujari is an Indian chess player. She is currently a Woman International Master and was previously awarded the title of Woman FIDE Master in 2006.
Popular sports in Jammu and Kashmir include cricket, football and winter sports along with sports like golf, water sports, Ice stock sport and adventure sports. The National Winter Games have been held in Gulmarg in 1996, 2004 and 2009. The first Khelo India Winter Games were held in February and March 2020 in Leh and Gulmarg. Jammu and Kashmir won the most gold medals while the Indian Army team came second with 8 gold medals. The second edition of the winter games were also held successfully in Gulmarg in 2020 with Jammu and Kashmir coming first and Karnataka second.
Khelo India Youth Games are the annual national level multidisciplinary grassroot games in India held in January or February for two categories, namely under-17 years school students and under-21 college students. Every year best 1,000 kids will be given an annual scholarship of ₹5 lakh (US$6,000) for 8 years to prepare them for the international sporting events.
Ankushita Boro is an Indian boxer. She won gold medal at the 2017 AIBA Youth Women's World Boxing Championships. She won gold medal in the first North East Olympic Games 2018, Imphal. She won silver medal at the 2nd India Open International Boxing Tournament and a gold at the 3rd Khelo India Youth Games (KYIG) 2020, both held in Guwahati. She also won 'The Best Boxer' title in the 2017 AIBA Youth Women's World Boxing Championships. She won bronze medal at the 5th Elite Women's National Boxing Championship in Hisar.
Khelo India University Games (KIUG) is a national level multi-sport event held in India, where athletes from universities across the country compete in different sports disciplines. The inaugural edition held in Odisha started on 22 February and concluded on 1 March 2020. It is organised by Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports along with Association of Indian Universities, Indian Olympic Association and National Sports Federation. It is the largest university level sports competition in India.
Khelo India: National Programme for Development of Sports, branded as Khelo India, aims at improving India's sports culture at the grass-root level through organized talent identification, structured sporting competitions and infrastructure development. It is a Government of India programme launched in 2017-18 under the tenure Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Ministers Vijay Goel and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. There has also been an emphasis on including traditional Indian games in Khelo India events in order to revive their popularity.
Khelo India Winter Games (KIWG) are the national level multidisciplinary grassroot winter games of India. Events include skiing, alpine skiing, nordic skiing, snow rugby, Ice stock sport, snow baseball, mountaineering, snowshoe running, ice hockey, figure skating and speed skating. It was decided to hold the first Khelo India Winter Games in 2020 after the success of multiple editions of the Khelo India Youth Games.
Esha Singh is an Indian sport shooter. She became the youngest national champion in the 10 meter air pistol in 2018 at the age of 13. Besides 10 meter air pistol, she also competes in 25 meter standard pistol and 25 meter pistol events.
Harshada Garud is a weightlifter from Maharashtra, India. Winning a gold in 2022 Junior World Weightlifting Championships, she became the first Indian to win a gold medal in International Weightlifting Federation's World Juniors Weightlifting Championships.
The 2021 Khelo India Youth Games is the fourth edition, of the Khelo India Youth Games. After being postponed thrice due to COVID-19, the Khelo India Youth Games 2021 were held from 4–13 June 2022 across multiple venues. Haryana hosted the bulk of the events and Panchkula, Haryana, India is named as the host city. The event witnessed 25 national-level multidisciplinary grassroots games. The event was held in 25 disciplines and all of India’s 36 states and Union Territories participated at the KIYG for the first time. Khelo India programme's inaugural edition was held in New Delhi in 2018, while Pune and Guwahati hosted 2nd and 3rd edition in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The winner of the fourth edition of KIYG was Haryana who edged past defending champions Maharashtra who finished 2nd. Karnataka for the first time finished in the 3rd position. Sikkim, Nagaland, and Lakshadweep were the only participants not to win a single medal.
The 2022 National Games of India, also known as the 36th National Games of India and informally as Gujarat 2022, was the 36th edition of the National Games of India and was held in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar in the state of Gujarat between 29 September and 12 October 2022.
