History of the National Games

With Jharkhand finally set to host the 34th National Games after five postponements, which originally was scheduled for 2007, I feel it’s the right time to wander back down the history to find the origin and the journey that The National Games has undertaken to reach its 34th edition.

The National Game began its journey way back in 1924 under the British Colonial rule, inspired by the mega sporting event Olympic. Christened on the lines of Olympic, the national multi-sporting event was named as the Indian Olympic Games where athletes’ from different states of the country competes to bring laurels for their respective states.

The purpose of establishing the National Games was to promote Games and Sports within the country and to build sporting infrastructure throughout the length and breadth of the country though its later purpose served little. However it did promote and encourage people to take up games and sports to a little extent.

The first National Games then known as “Indian Olympic Games” took place in 1924 at Lahore in the undivided Punjab under the leadership of G.D. Sondhi, the first Secretary of the Punjab Olympic Association. Lt.Col H.L.O. Garrett, Vice Principal of Government College, Lahore, was the President of the founder body. The dream of Indian Olympic Games came true because of the prominent role played by these two people.

Proposed to be a biannual event ie. held every two year except for those years when it coincides with the Asian Games and Olympic, The Indian Olympic Games was held 12 times under the British rule till 1946. Prior to that, in its 9th edition in Bombay in 1940, the name “Indian Olympic Games” was changed to “The National Games”.

Then in 1948, Lucknow hosted the first National Games of Independent India which indeed was a moment of pride for the country. Without any hitch, the Game was held regularly till 1970 before Hyderabad hosted the 25th National Games after a gap of nine years in 1979.

Again after a gap of six years in 1985, Delhi hosted the 26th edition but this time with a grand revamp. The Indian Olympic Association, the premier sports organizing body of the nation, decided to give a facelift to the ailing event, modeling it on the lines of the Olympic and was held with great pomp and show.

Kerela hosted the 27th National Games in 1987 after which seven years separated the next edition held in 1994 in Bombay and Pune. There after Bangalore (1997), Imphal (1999), Punjab (2001) and Hyderabad (2002) hosted the event successfully before Guwahati staged the 33th edition in 2007 as Jharkhand was still not ready to host the event.

And now with Jharkhand set to host the event with a glitzy affair, I hope all of us to will support our respective states athletes to bag the maximum gold. The 35th edition will be held in the Southern city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala while Goa and Chhatisgarh has been awarded the right to host the next two editions.

However, with very few States being able to stage the event within the allotted date, it’s uncertain as to when we will watch the next National Games again after Jharkhand. Had the Govt. been more serious about developing Games and Sports in the Country and the Officials governing Games and Sports been not corrupted, the problem of irregular hosting of the national event could have been averted.