A teacher and a ten-year-old filed an RTI (Right To Information) to inquire Indian government about national game of India

In our school days, we have been taught that India’s national sport is hockey. So, whenever someone throws a question: ‘what is India’s national sports?’ our immediate response is hockey but now this response is not accurate.

If not hockey, then what is India’s national sport?

To tackle this question, a ten-year-old, Aishwarya Parashar filed an RTI in 2012 to Prime Minister's Office (PMO). Also, Mayuresh Agrawal, a teacher in the Dhule district of Maharashtra filed an RTI in 2020 when his students asked him when was hockey declared the national game of India.

The government passed on this question to the union ministry of youth affairs and sports and they replied that India doesn’t have any national sports. 

Though, sometimes people assume kabaddi is India’s National sport because it originated in India unlike hockey, which was introduced by Britishers in India. But this assumption is false.

Why doesn’t India have any national game like other countries which have their national sport?

Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports:

“The government has not declared any sport/game as the National Game of the country, as the objective of the government is to encourage/promote all popular sports disciplines.”

Then, why was hockey assumed as India’s national sport?

Hockey holds historic significance for India and all its achievements before it went unnoticed by the audience of India are one of those reasons for considering this sport an unofficial game of India.

Read about how the Indian hockey team contributed to the Olympic games for their country to have better insights on this question.

People don’t talk about underrated sports is another thing but they don’t show their interest in their country’s national sport. Schools should take initiatives to spread such awareness among the youth.

That’s it for the new era of sports talk for this blog. See you in the next blog.

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