Competitions

International sport builds friendship, health, social peace and breaks barriers between classes and nations.

Olympics: ancient from 776 B.C. to 394 A.D.; modern from Athens 1896, every four years, founded by Pierre de Coubertin and run by the IOC (Lausanne). India first took part in 1900; it has eight hockey golds; Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual gold (2008). Winter Olympics began at Chamonix in 1924.

Paralympics, from Rome 1960, for athletes with physical, visual or intellectual impairments, run by the IPC (Bonn, 1989). At Rio 2016 Mariyappan Thangavelu and Devendra Jhajharia won gold.

Commonwealth Games: founded by Melville Marks Robinson, first at Hamilton in 1930. Asian Games: first in New Delhi in 1951, every four years.

In India: National Games (from the Indian Olympic Games, Lahore 1924), yearly National Championships by each federation, Inter-University tournaments (since 1941), and SGFI National School Games (federation formed 1954; under-14, 17 and 19).