India’stwo northern states – Haryana and Punjab – constitute just 4.4percent of the country’s population. But, together they will form36.75 percent or more than one-third of India’s Olympic boundathletes at the Paris Games. Out of the 117 member strong Indiancontingent, 24 athletes are from Haryana and 19 from Punjab. Evenduring 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Haryana had 31 athletes and Punjab had19. One of the reasons for this could be attributed to the vibrant‘sports culture’ and ‘sports ecosystem’ in both these states.
Infact,Haryana’s athletes will be participating in eight disciplines -Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Golf, Hockey, Rowing, Shooting, Wrestlingand Punjab’s in four disciplines – Athletics, Golf, Hockey andShooting at Paris. Next comes the southern state of Tamil Nadu with12 athletes.
Paris2024 is truly a diversified representation of India’s Olympic squadwith sportspersons from 21 states and 2 union territories formingpart of the Indian contingent which take part in 16 disciplines.
Evensmaller states like Goa, Sikkim and union territories like Chandigarhwill have one athlete participating at the Olympics this time around.India’s capital Delhi will have six-members in the squad.
But,India’s five big states in terms of population – Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have beenlaggards. These five states form nearly 48 percent of the country’spopulation, but their representation in India’s Paris bound Olympiccontingent is significantly very less. Among them, i.e. Uttar Pradesh(6), Maharashtra (4), Madhya Pradesh (3) West Bengal (2) and Bihar(1), they have just 16 athletes participating at the Paris Gameswhich is less than the squad from either Haryana (24) or Punjab (19).
Karnataka(7), Kerala (6), Andhra Pradesh (4), Telangana (4), Uttarakhand (4),Gujarat (3), Jharkhand (2), Manipur (2), Odisha (2), Rajasthan (2)and Assam (1) are the other states who will have a representation atParis.
Traditionally,Haryana has dominated sports such as wrestling and boxing and thistime around it has been no different. India’s entire wrestlingsquad comprising of six grapples come from Haryana while four out ofthe six boxers are also from Haryana. In shooting, Haryana and Punjabhave six shooters each in the 21 member Indian squad. In hockey, 10out of the 19 players come from Punjab. In swimming, both theswimmers in the squad are from Karnataka. The 29-member athleticssquad has six athletes from Tamil Nadu and four from Uttar Pradesh.In archery, Jharkhand has two archers in the six-member squad.
Overthe years, athletes from Haryana and Punjab have dominated India’sperformance at the Olympic Games. India has so far won 35 Olympicmedals; with 12 medals in hockey itself and majority of the playersin the medal winning hockey squads have come from Punjab whileHaryana lead the tally in terms of individual medal winners for Indiaat the Olympic Games with the likes of Neeraj Chopra, Vijender Singh,Saina Nehwal, Gagan Narang, Yogeshwar Dutt, Sakshi Malik, Ravi KumarDahiya and Bajrang Punia, all hailing from this state.
Eventhis time, athletes from both these states – Haryana and Punjab –are expected to play a significant role in India’s medal tally atthe Paris Olympics.
