From Hitler's admiration for the Indian Kabaddi team's performance in the 1936 Olympics to teenager Shafali Verma dressing up as a boy to play cricket, here are 50 interesting facts about Indian sports that you may not have known:
You can impress your friends, family, teammates, or coaches with your sports knowledge at any time of year. Here, we unearth a plethora of fascinating facts about your favorite sports and iconic Indian athletes who continue to fascinate and delight millions of people across the country and around the world.
These facts are worth their weight in gold, so get ready to impress your friends when you share these obscure but fascinating tidbits.
50) At the Olympics, when Kabaddi stunned Hitler and company
Many people are unaware that Kabaddi, a beloved sport in this country but one that is mysterious to outsiders, first gained international recognition when India displayed the sport at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and astounded Adolf Hitler and the Olympic Committee members with their kabaddi maneuvers.
49) Payyoli Express
PT Usha, a.k.a. the "Queen of Indian Track and Field," was the country's youngest athlete to compete in the Olympics. She took part in the 1980 Moscow Olympics at the age of 16 years and 69 days.
She was also the first sprinter from India to compete in an Olympic track final.
48) Staggering Sharath
Sharath Gayakwad, a paralympic swimmer, presently holds the record for the most medals an Indian has earned at a multi-sport competition.
By capturing six medals at the 2014 Asian Para Games, Sharath accomplished this.
47) Jemimah Rodrigues, the standout opener for the Indian Women's Cricket team and a fan favorite, is a fantastic hockey player who, before transitioning to competitive cricket, played for the Mumbai & Maharashtra Hockey teams at the U17 level.
46) Indian Cycling's Forefather
Jankidas Mehra is a competitive cyclist who set eight world records between 1934 and 1942, in addition to being an actor, production designer, and writer.
He was the first Indian to carry India's national flag at the World Sports Congress (pre-independence). He also founded the Cycling Federation of India.
45) Olympic Forerunners
Nilima Ghose, Mary D'Souza, Dolly Nazir, and Arati Saha were independent India's first female Olympic participants.
The four represented India in the Helsinki Games in 1952.
44) Queen of the court
PV Sindhu is the first and only Indian to become the Badminton World Champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games.
43) Kapil Dev, India's undisputed greatest all-rounder, has never missed a cricket match due to injury. He has, of course, missed games and been dropped once, but he has not missed a single game due to injury.
42) Indian Hockey's Mecca
Sansarpur, a hamlet of 4600 people in Jalandhar, Punjab, has produced 14 Olympians who have gone on to win 27 medals for India in Field Hockey. This town alone saw seven athletes compete in one Olympics.
41) Tottenham Hotspur's first Indian player
Dilan Markanday, 20, is the first British-Asian and the first player of Indian heritage to play for Tottenham Hotspurs in the English Premier League.
40) Almighty!
Shilaroo Hockey Arena in Himachal Pradesh is the world's highest-altitude hockey stadium, standing at around 8,000 feet (nearly 2,500 meters above sea level) and bordered by the Narkanda and Hatu Peaks.
39) Neeraj Chopra became a household name after winning India's first-ever gold medal in athletics at the Olympics, but did you know he is also the first and only Indian to win World Junior Championships gold, Asian Games gold, Commonwealth Games gold, Asian Championships gold, and South Asian Games gold medals?
With a javelin spear in his grasp, Neeraj is a completely other beast.
38) Indian Hockey's Golden Age
The India Hockey team toured New Zealand in 1926, playing 21 matches in which India scored 192 goals while conceding just 25.
37) Indian football star IM Vijayan holds the record for scoring the sixth-fastest goal (12 seconds) in international football history. It happened during the 1999 SAF Games versus Bhutan.
36) Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a hat-trick of Grand Prix championships, comprising the Swedish Open, Danish Open, and All England titles, all in fast succession.
35) Singh is the King.
The most prevalent surname among Indian hockey players is Singh. During a game, a foreign journalist stated in his dispatch, "Singh started the move." After avoiding a defender, Singh transferred the ball to Singh, who centered it to Singh, who scored with a reverse flick."
34) Norman Pritchard, India's first Olympic medalist, was the first Asian-born person to earn an Olympic medal. He was the sole Indian to compete in the Olympics in 1900 and won two silver medals. He later went on to become an actor in Los Angeles under the name Norman Trevor.
33) Sikh in the Air
General Ayyub Khan of Pakistan conferred the title of 'Flying Sikh' on Captain Milkha Singh after he defeated Pakistan's star athlete Abdul Khaliq in the 200m sprint in Lahore.
32) Dravid was on the ice for 735 hours and 52 minutes.
Rahul Dravid has faced more deliveries and spent more time at the crease batting than any other batsman in Test cricket history. Dravid has faced 31,258 deliveries in his Test career (5209 overs and around 735 hours 52 minutes) - a global record.
No other batter has faced more than 30,000 deliveries.
31) The country's first female Winter Olympian
India's first female Olympian was Shailaja Kumar. She competed in Alpine Skiing at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, finishing 28th in the women's slalom.
30) Dhanraj Pillay, one of the finest hockey players India has ever had, is also the only Indian to have participated in four World Cups, four Olympics, four Champions Trophies, and four Asian games.
29) Abhinav Bindra's career was nearly over before he earned Olympic gold.
Abhinav Bindra had a career-threatening spinal injury following the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, but he underwent intense therapy to improve his posture. After surviving this injury, he won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
28) Lords celebrates board starters
Only three Indian openers have struck a century at Lord's: Vinoo Mankad, Ravi Shastri, and KL Rahul.
Vinoo Mankad was also the first non-English player to be inducted into the Lord's honour roll.
27) Snooker was invented in India.
In 1875, a British Army soldier named Neville Chamberlain inadvertently founded the game of snooker in Jabalpur, India. However, it took more than a century for India to have its first professional in the sport.
26) Pankaj Advani is the only player in the world to have won world titles in both the long and short formats of snooker (15 red standard and 6 red) as well as both formats of English billiards (Time and Point).
25)It is not for everyone to concede goals while signing autographs.
As incredible as it may sound, Indian Hockey goalkeeper Richard Allen has only allowed two goals in three Olympic Games. Apparently, he surrendered one goal while signing autographs, which the India men's team won 24-1, and another in the 1936 finals, which India won 8-1.
24) The Durand Cup is the world's third oldest football event and Asia's oldest football tournament. The legendary Indian football competition, which began in 1888, is also Asia's oldest.
23) Mary Kom, the Indian boxing queen, is the only woman to have won the global amateur boxing championship six times. In addition, she is the only female boxer to have won a medal in each of the seven world championships.
22) Untarnished heritage
The only Indian to earn a spot in the Asian All-Stars XI is Atanu Bhattacharya. In 1984, he was a member of the Asian All-Stars. It's interesting that he was a member of our Indian squad before being called up to the Bengal side that went on to win the Santhosh Trophy.
21) creating a path
The first female hockey player from Jharkhand to represent India at the Olympics is Nikki Pradhan.
20) First Indian female Paralympian to take home two medals
Avani Lekhara, a master para-shooter, is the first Indian woman to ever win two Paralympic medals. She is also the first Indian woman to ever win a gold medal at the Paralympics.
19) Hockey's fastest drag flick record
Sandeep Singh, also known by his hockey nickname "Flicker Singh," now holds the record for the fastest drag flick in hockey history with a speed of 145 kilometers per hour.
18) India, a once-regular competitor, defeated Australia 4-2 on December 1, 1956, and went on to become the first Asian country to get to the Olympic football semifinals.
17) The first Olympic medalist of Independent India was Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, who won a medal for an individual team. He is still the only Olympic medalist who hasn't received a Padma award. He earned a bronze medal in wrestling in the 1952 Summer Olympics.
16) Do you recall the time when the Olympics had an art contest?
Up to the 1948 Olympics, art was an element of the Olympic games, and West Bengali artist Chintamani Kar earned a silver medal for Great Britain.
15) Boy disguised as amazing girl
At order to enroll teenage cricketer Shafali Verma in a Rohtak cricket academy that would not accept any ladies, her father dressed her up as a boy.
14) the first Indian shuttler to triumph outside
The first Indian athlete to get the Arjuna Award was Nandu Natekar. When he won the Sellinger International championship in Malaysia in 1956, he became the first Indian to win an international competition.
13) The first Asian football player to score a hat trick at an Olympic Games was Neville D' Souza, the hat trick hero. In addition, he scored the joint most goals in 1956.
12) A medal-winning father-son team in the Olympics
The only father-son team to receive an Olympic medal is Singhs and Paes.
Due to Dhyan Chand Singh's prowess on the ice, India won three straight Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932, and 1936. The bronze medal was earned by his son Ashok Kumar at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Two Olympic medals have been won by the Paes family representing the country. In contrast to his father Vice Paes, who earned a bronze medal in hockey at the 1972 Munich Games, Leander Paes won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
11) In 1952, against England in Madras, one of Indian cricket's genuine heroes, Vijay Hazare, guided India to its first-ever victory.
Additionally, he twice fired Sir Don Bradman.
10) to provide better control over the playing field
The final time a Hockey World Cup was held on actual grass was in 1975. AstroTurf has since been used for field hockey, modifying the rules of the game.
09) passion that is dominant
Mary originally didn't tell her father she was interested in boxing. Her interest in boxing wasn't revealed to her family until a publication published a photo of her.
08) Basketball Hall of Fame of India
After a spectacular performance in the Asian Games in Bangkok in 1970, Abbas Moontasir became the first Indian basketball player to be chosen to the Asian All-Star squad.
07) Mother of Sunil Chhetri was a member of the Nepali national squad.
Sunil Chhetri comes from a long line of football players. His mother Sushila Chhetri, his aunts, and his identical twin sisters have all previously competed for Nepal's women's national team. In actuality, Chhetri's father, KB Chhetri, played football for the Services while he was engaged by the Indian Army.
06) The first married Indian pair to compete in the Olympics
Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, two Indian archers who were married last year, became the first Indian couple to compete in the same sport at an Olympics.
05) The first Indian to play successful professional volleyball in Europe was Jimmy George, a flying Indian who is possibly the finest volleyball player India has ever produced.
04) The relationship between Indian football and Scottish clubs
When he was hired by Celtic FC in 1936, Mohammed Salim became the first Indian guy to play football abroad. 84 years later, in 2020, Bala Devi was chosen by Rangers FC to play football abroad, making her the first Indian woman to do so.
03) Anju Bobby George's ascent into the annals of history
When Anju Bobby George won the long jump (6.70 m) bronze medal in Paris in 2003, she became the first Indian to win a medal at the World Athletics Championships.
02) A feat to be honored
Balbir Singh of India set a record for most goals in an Olympic final when he scored five in his country's 6-1 victory over the Netherlands. The record has not been broken.
01) After seeing India play hockey in Adelaide in May 1935, Don Bradman approached Dhyan Chand and said, "You score goals like runs in cricket."
the Olympics.
Congratulations, you've successfully completed the journey. You may now confidently identify as a full-time sports nerd.
