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.
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$5,800) for 8 years to prepare them for the international sporting events.
Amit Sheoran is a pistol shooting coach, who also competed at a national level, He had to leave shooting due to the death of his father. He has produced several national and international-level Indian pistol shooters. He has coached Saurabh Chaudhary.
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.
Ria Rajeshwari Kumari is an Indian sports shooter and fashion designer. Kumari is a trap shooter and has won medals in both domestic and international competitions. She won the silver medal at the Women's trap team event in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. In 2024, competed in the Women's trap event in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. As of 2024, she is the 9th ranked women's trap shooter in the world. Kumari is a co-founder of Saurab Rajeshwari, a luxury Indian clothing and embroidery brand founded in 2021.
Sumit Antil is an Indian javelin thrower. He is a double gold medalist at the Paralympics, having won the men's javelin throw F64 event at the 2020 Paralympics and the 2024 Paralympics. He set a new Paralympic record both times with his throws of 68.55 m and 70.59 m. He is a two-time gold medalist at the World Para Championships. In 2022, Antil not only won the gold medal at the Asian Para Games but also made the para-javelin WR of 73.29 m. He is a six-time world record holder.
India competed at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, from 23 September to 8 October 2023. The multi-sporting event was scheduled to be held in September 2022 but was postponed due to the rising COVID-19 pandemic. The event was rescheduled to be held from September to October 2023.
Dhanush Srikanth is an Indian deaf sports shooter. He made his Deaflympic debut at the age of 19 representing India at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics. Despite his deafness, he has been competing in Indian shooting circuit and has been regarded as one of the regular faces in Indian shooting fraternity. He is currently coached by former Indian sports shooter Gagan Narang at the Guns for Glory Shooting Academy in Hyderabad.
Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) is a scheme created by Government of India to promote sports in India. In September 2014, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India started a scheme to train and promote high-performance athletes with a target of getting medals at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. It constituted a committee called as TOPS Elite Athletes’ Identification Committee to identify the elite athletes who can be supported in their training to get the Olympic medals. TOPS was expanded to include junior athletes in 2020.
The inaugural 2023 Khelo India Para Games will be held from 10 to 17 December 2023.
Simran Sharma is a visually-impaired para-athlete from Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh. She qualified to represent India in the 2024 Summer Paralympics and won a bronze medal in the Women's 200 m T12 final on 7 September 2024. In the Women's 100 m T12, she qualified first in her heat with a season's best of 12.33s but could only finish 4th in the finals despite a better time of 12.31 s.
Shialesh Kumar is a para jumper from Bihar. He represented India in the men's high jump at the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China. He won a gold medal in the men's T63 high jump event clearing 1.82 meters on 23 October 2023. He qualified to represent India at the 2024 Summer Paralympics at Paris.
Pranav Soorma is an Indian para-athlete. He won the silver medal in the men's club throw F51 event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. He also won the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games. At the event, he set an Asian Games record with a throw of 30.01 m.
Pooja Ojha is an Indian para athlete from Madhya Pradesh who competes in canoeing. She qualified for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in the canoeing women's KL1 event. India earned quota places for the following events through the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany; and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Earlier, she represented India at the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China.
Rajni Jha is an Indian para athlete from Madhya Pradesh who competes in canoeing. She qualified for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in the canoeing women's KL2 event, earning India a quota place but her name was missing in the final list. India also qualified through the 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany; and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.
Dilip Mahadu Gavit is an Indian para athlete from Maharashtra. He competes in men's 400m T47. He qualified to represent India at the 2024 Summer Paralympics at Paris. He qualified third for the finals with a season's best of 49.54m. Final run is on September 7.
Dipesh Kumar is an Indian para athlete from Uttar Pradesh. He competes in men's javelin throw in F54 category. He qualified to represent India at the 2024 Summer Paralympics at Paris, France.
