NO. Hockey isn’t the national game of India, as most of us were taught this fact at some point in time. Hockey is the national sport, isn’t a fact contrary to what the popular belief is. Well, of course, most of us grow up to find out this, but there are still many people who are unaware of this fact. All of this unlearning started when an RTI was filed to the government asking ‘What is the national game of India?’, the reply from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports shocked everyone as it stated, India has no national sport. The supporting statement was that the government doesn’t want to prioritize any sport and promote every game equally. Hence there is no official recognition of hockey as the national sport of India.
But, how did the fact spread or became overwhelmingly convincing to the general mass in the first place?
Well, it is because of the heroics of the Indian Hockey team at the international level since the 1920s. India has more medals in field hockey at the Olympics than any other country, the most recent being the Bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The Indian hockey team has the most number of golds in Olympic history and what’s more astonishing is the last time we won gold was 41 years back in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. No country has records like India holds in hockey, so the people of India were extremely confident that hockey is the national game of India. As of now, we don’t have any national game officially declared by the government.
Demand is Hockey as The National Sport of India
But things have changed ever since the nail-biting and thrilling win of the Indian Men’s Hockey team in the Bronze medal match against Germany, in which India won 5-4 to obtain India’s first medal in the field of Hockey after 41 years. This medal led many people to demand the recognition of hockey as the national sport of India. There have been many PILs filed to the government asking to name hockey as the national sport as people believe it is the sport that resonates the most with India. The women’s hockey team narrowly missed a bronze medal as they went down to Great Britain by a margin of 4-3 after a bold display. The overall growth and rejuvenation of the game of hockey in India have led this movement, which is unnoticed and unheard but might take an interesting turn as more people demanding this can turn up to make it a large movement.
Conclusion:
Even after all the chaos and demands, as it stands, India doesn’t have a national sport as of now. The statement replied by the government too as its relevance as by doing this there would be some level of disrespect to sports which have also contributed to the history and recognition of India at a global stage. But hockey being the national sport isn’t also undeserving considering the changes it has made to the face of this country.