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It was back in the year 1900 when India first made its presence felt on a global sporting stage by making their first ever appearance at the Olympics. The event held in Paris saw an Anglo-Indian athlete, Norman Pritchard, win India two silver medals, both of which being in athletics.
More than a hundred years since the nation now boasts of a total of 35 medals across 24 Summer Games. In the last century, India has seen several of its athletes achieve a podium finish, both in individual and team sports, which has helped the country build its own sporting heritage.
Out of the 35 medals, there have been 10 gold medals, nine silvers, and 16 bronze finishes. As India now prepare in hopes of coming up with a good showing across the multiple sporting events at the 2024 Paris Olympics, here is a look at the sports that India has won the most medals in.
3 sports in which India has won the most medals at the Olympics
#1 Field Hockey (12 medals)
Field Hockey boasts proudly of being the sport that has contributed the maximum to India's medal tally at the Olympics. Out of the 35 medals, 12 have come in the said sport. Furthermore, an awe-inspiring eight out of the 10 gold medals that India have to their name have been won in field hockey.
India's first ever gold medal in hockey came in 1928 at the games held in Amsterdam with the last being at Moscow in 1980. India also has won one silver and three bronze medals in field hockey, the last of which was a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
From Major Dhyanchand to Dhanraj Pillay, India's 2024 contingent has plenty of pioneers in the sport to look up to and draw inspiration from as the entire country hopes the sport continues to bring laurels on the biggest of stages.
#2 Wrestling (7 medals)
Having brought a total of seven medals for India, wrestling occupies the second spot on the list. A sport that has played a significant part in India's sporting folklore over the years, wrestling has given the country many sporting heroes.
Starting with KD Jadhav's bronze in 1952 in Helsinki to Sushil Kumar's heroics winning a bronze and a silver in each of the 2008 and 2012 games, respectively, to now the more recent bronze medal earned by Bajrang Punia in 2020, India has in its kitty a total of five bronze and two silver medals in wrestling.
#3 Shooting (4 medals)
India has won a total of four medals in shooting since Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the country its first-ever medal in the sport with a silver finish in the Men's double trap shooting event at the 2004 games held in Athens.
Abhinav Bindra then went a step further to bring home the much-coveted gold medal in the Men's 10m air rifle shooting event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Rounding off the tally are Vijay Kumar's silver and Gagan Narang's bronze medals, both of which were won at the 2012 London Olympics.
