India has won a record 8 olympic hockey golds in the Olympics and some olympic medals in boxing, wrestling, shooting, badminton, tennis, and so on. They have also produced world champions in these above mentioned sports as well as gymnastics, archery, karate, kickboxing as well as the non-olympic sports of cricket and polo.
Indian hockey player Dhyan Chand is considered the greatest hockey player of all time world-wide.
India has also produced both male and female world chess champions. Vishwanathan Anand is a five time world champion in chess, a game which had originated in India.
The Indian team had also won the 2020 chess olympiad.
Pankaj Advani is a 23 time world champion in amateur world billiards and snooker championships.
Indians are however more interested in their own traditional sports like Kabaddi, Circle Kho-kho and martial arts like Kalaripayattu, Mardaani Khel, Gatka, Silambam, Thangta, Lathi, Musti Yuddha, Kushti, Malla-yuddha, Kuttu Varisai and so on.
These had a great influence on other martial arts throughout the world.
The martial arts have played a prominent role in the ancient Indian scriptures. The archery contest between Karna and Arjuna in the Mahabharatha, and the mace fight between Duryodhana and Bheema, as well as the wrestling contest between Bheema and Jarasandha are the stuff of legends. They have a lot of interesting insights into the nature of sports, and actualisation of human potential.
Both the Avatars Rama and Krishna were excellent martial artists, while Hanuman is considered to be the patron god of wrestling and acrobatics.
Hatha yoga is an Indian physical exercise system which is now very popular globally.
Because of the focus on traditional sports and momentum of many milleniums, olympic sports have not made much leeway into the Indian mind as such. However Indians have excelled in non-Indian sports like cricket, badminton, tennis so there is increasing interest in more world sports.
