India’s very own sporting event, the National Games are underway at Goa for its 37th edition. Following a succesfull conclusion of the previous edition at Gujarat, the Goa National games promises to be a perfect platform for all the young and upcoming athletes all over India.
The number of sports discipline increased from 36 to 43 this year with sports like Sqay martial arts, Rollball, Sepak takraw, Kalaripayattu, Pencak silat and Mini golf added to the National games this year.
Our sports ministry did a very good job by increasing athletes from six-seven thousand to at least 10,000 athletes. The official starting date of the 37th National Games was from 26th October but events like Badminton, Weightlifting and Gymnastics among others started before the inauguration.
Services, the team of the Indian Armed Forces finished 1st last year in Gujarat, winning 128 medals including 61 golds, 35 silvers and 32 Bronze medals. Currently, Maharashtra are currently leading the medal tally with 36 medals whereas Haryana and Services are 2nd and 3rd.
| Rank | State/UT | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maharashtra | 11 | 12 | 13 | 36 |
| 2 | Haryana | 10 | 3 | 6 | 19 |
| 3 | Services | 6 | 5 | 2 | 13 |
| 4 | Karnataka | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Punjab | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | Assam | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | Tamil Nadu | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 8 | Madhya Pradesh | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | Manipur | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 10 | Odisha | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 | West Bengal | 1 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 12 | Goa | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 13 | Uttar Pradesh | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 14 | Telangana | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 15 | Chandigarh | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Rajasthan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 18 | Chhattisgarh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Mizoram | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Kerala | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 21 | Uttarakhand | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 22 | Himachal Pradesh | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | Jammu and Kashmir | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Bihar | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Delhi | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 26 | Arunachal Pradesh | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
National Games is a thematic event just like the Olympic games and many even call it the Indian Olympics. One of its main motto has always been to provide a stage for athletes who can represent the nation when the Olympics takes place every 4 years. In 1924, it was even called as the All India Olympic Games when Lahore hosted the games before partition.
Fun fact: A total of 8 athletes made it to the flight for 1924 Paris Olympics after doing well in the inaugural National games with Harry Buck, the founder of YMCA College of Physical Education handling the small contigent as the manager in Paris.
Indian Sporting superstars like Neeraj Chopra, Sania Mirza, PT Usha among many other athletes have all played the National games before becoming Global sensations. The first 3 editions were held in Lahore while Allahabad, Madras, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bombay and Patiala hosted the games before India was partitioned.
City of Nawabs, Lucknow hosted the first Post Independence National Games edition. Talking of hosts, Goa had to wait for 3 years to organize the event and also had to see Gujarat hosting it before them last year.
The 2020 National games which was supposed to be the 36th edition was postponed due to COVID 19 pandemic. It was supposed to take place in Goa but Gujarat hosted the games instead. This year Mapusa, Margao, Panjim, Ponda and Vasco are the 5 host cities whereas New Delhi will see the Cycling and Golf events go underway.
