History of National Games: India’s homespun Olympics!

The National Games of India is an Olympic-style multi-sport event where athletes from the various states and Union Territories of India compete for medals. Services, the sports team of the Indian Armed Forces, also compete at the National Games.

At the National Games 2022, athletes competed in 36 sports, including non-Olympic ones like kabaddi, kho kho, lawn bowls, mallakhamb, squash, wushu and yogasana.

The National Games were initially envisioned to be a biennial event. However, logistical and procedural issues have meant that they have been held with varying gaps over the years

The 35th edition of the National Games took place in 2015 in Kerala. The 36th edition was supposed to take place in Goa in 2020 but it was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going forward, the Indian sports ministry, however, has affirmed that the National Games will be held every two years, except in years where the Olympics and Asian Games are held.

Several prominent Indian athletes like Neeraj Chopra, PT Usha, Dipa Karmakar, Sajan Prakash and Sania Mirza have participated in the National Games over the years.

“I was just 16 years old when I took part in the Games in 2002," Sania Mirza said. "I did well and came into the limelight. It proved to be the perfect impetus for my international career.

“This is the perfect platform to test yourself and, then, embark on the international stage,” Sania added. “The presence of top athletes in National Games is a great source of inspiration to the emerging talent.”

History of the National Games

The objective of the National Games was to identify sporting talent who could represent the country at the Olympics.

According to the official website of the Indian Olympic Association, the efforts were led by Dorabji Tata, a prominent Indian businessman, Harry Crowe Buck, the founder of the YMCA College of Physical Education in Chennai (then Madras), and Dr A.G. Noehren, the college’s director.

After the 1920 Olympics, Dorabji Tata suggested a national-level body to promote Olympic sports and after a meeting of the selection committee for the Olympics, the All India Olympic Committee was set up.

The committee organised the first National Games in 1924 in Lahore - now in Pakistan - in what was then undivided India. It was then called the ‘All India Olympic Games’.

Eight athletes from the inaugural All India Olympic Games were selected to represent the country at the 1924 Paris Olympics and Harry Buck accompanied the contingent as the manager.

The All India Olympic Committee eventually transitioned into the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in 1927 with Dorabji Tata as president and Dr Noehren, the secretary.

The first four editions of the All India Olympic Games were diligently held every two years since the first edition in 1924. The first three were held in Lahore, with Allahabad (now Prayagraj) emerging as the new host city in 1930. Since then, each edition has been held in a different city.

The event was rechristened as the ‘National Games’ starting the 1940 edition, which was hosted by Bombay (now Mumbai).

The 1948 edition in Lucknow was the first edition to be held in independent India. The National Games continued to be held every two years until the 25th edition in 1970. The next edition was only held nine years later, in 1979 in Hyderabad.

The modern National Games

After the initial surge, the National Games gradually lost steam and ahead of the 26th edition in 1985, the IOA decided to revamp the structure to increase the fanfare.

They modelled the National Games on the lines of the Olympics, replete with an athletes’ Village and marketed it in a grand manner to attract more attention.

The 1985 National Games was the first true Olympic-style event and several stars like PT Usha, Shiny Abraham and now AFI chief Adille Sumariwalla competed at the event.

Each of the following editions saw more than 5000 athletes competing for medals.

The 1999 National Games were the first to be held in north-east India, in Imphal - the capital of Manipur.

Olympians Tejaswini Sawant, Sajan Prakash and Dipa Karmakar and CWG lawn bowls silver-medallists Sunil Bahadur, Dinesh Kumar and Chandan Singh are among the many prominent athletes who have won gold medals at the National Games.

Olympian boxer Ashish Kumar had almost given up on his boxing career when he decided to give it one last go at the 2015 National Games. He ended up winning the gold, which proved to be the turning point in his career. Kumar would later on go on to win the Asian Championships silver medal in 2019.

The biggest success story to emerge from the National Games is undoubtedly Tokyo 2020 gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra. He competed in the National Games 2015, finishing fifth in the javelin throw.

However, Neeraj Chopra was inducted into India’s national camp after the event, which he later identified as a turning point in his then fledgling career. It gave him better training facilities and diet to build towards future successes.

Since then, Neeraj Chopra has never looked back - becoming the U20 world champion, winning golds at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and creating history at the Tokyo Olympics, the world athletics championships and the Diamond League.

One of India's top table tennis players, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, too competed at the 2015 National Games.

“The Games gave me a great platform in 2015, to know where I stood," G. Sathiyan said. "When you compete in a multisport event, it’s a very different ball game.

"You learn a lot of things and they help us in bigger events like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and the Olympics," Sathiyan elaborated. “For youngsters, it is a great platform to test their skills and test themselves under pressure.”

National Games editions and hosts