Cricket, Hockey or Kabaddi: Which is the National Sport of India?

Indian government over the years has declared many elements as National symbols. For example, the national animal is tiger, national bird is peacock, national flower is lotus and so on. And when it comes to sport or game, it was earlier believed that field hockey took the slot.

However, India does not officially have a national sport based on the statement of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Hockey was considered a national sport due to country's dominance from 1928-1956, a period when the Indian team won 8 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze in Olympics.

In 2020, a school teacher from Dhule district of Maharashtra filed a Right to Information (RTI), wanting to know if hockey was declared as India's national game.

"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," the ministry of youth affairs and sports replied.

Then, what is the National Sport of India? Unofficially, it is considered that Hockey, Cricket and Kabaddi take the slot due to the national team's success in these sports.

While Hockey was believed to be the national sport in early years, Kabaddi was the next to get the tag after the Indian team's dominance at the world stage, winning all World Cup events till date and seven gold medals at the Asian Games.

Next sport which took the slot was cricket due to the national team's dominance, winning two three world cups and the exposure the sport gave to the aspiring youngsters.

But, after Indian men's and women's hockey team's performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there have been calls for the sport to be declared as the national sport. However, the government has still left the slot vacant as they feel every sport needs to promoted equally.

So, as it stands there is no official national sport or game in India. But cricket, hockey and kabaddi have all been considered as unofficial national sport in the country.