The Paris Olympic Games 2024 are less than a month away and all the athletes are gearing up for the quadrennial Games in the French Capital. India will also be sending a strong delegation for the Games with an aim to laurels for the nation.
India's best Olympics in terms of medals has been the Tokyo 2020 Games, when the 126-member contingent brought home seven medals. including a Gold from Neeraj Chopra. Overall, India has 35 medals in total from the pre-independence to the post-independence period.
Norman Pritchard gave India its first Olympics medal - two Silvers in the Paris 1900 Games but that was in the pre-Independence era. The first medal for an Independent India was a story worth recalling.
Indian hockey team won the historic Gold in 1948
Less than a year after Independence and still facing the after-effects of the partition, India's hockey team brought home a Gold medal for the nation. The Indian hockey team was a serial Gold medal winner at the Games in the colonial time but they had a point to prove after gaining freedom.
What better occasion to do it than beating their colonial masters in the final of a Hockey game in front of a partisan English crowd in the capital city of England?
The team led by Kishan Lal, defeated the English side at the famous Wembley Stadium 4-0 to land their fourth straight Gold medal in the sport.
India had won Gold medals at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Games before World War II cancelled the Games in 1940 and 1944. The 1948 Games were the first for the Independent India.
The Indian team's composition took a hit when some great players of the hitherto undivided team left to play for Pakistan after the partition. Players like Niaz Khan, Shah Rukh Muhammad, Aziz Malik and Ali Shah Dara switched borders to play for the then newly-formed Pakistan.
India were placed in Pool A alongside Austria, Spain and Argentina. They defeated Austria in the first match by 8-0 before mauling Argentina by 9-1. India then defeated Spain 2-0 before downing Netherlands 2-1 in the semis.
They faced England in the final and outclassed them by 4-1. India also discovered a gem of a player in Balbir Singh Sr., who played only two games but left an ever-lasting impact. He scored six goals on debut against Argentina, before netting two in the final.
