Athletics in India

Athletics can be defined as an amalgamation of different sport events, which can generally be divided into running, throwing and jumping. The events are usually organized on a 400 m running track, wherein most of the sports activities, such as field events, jumping and throwing, take place. Most of the athletic games played today are known to have originated in the time of the ancient Greeks. Athletics was included in the Olympic Games in 1896 and has been part of the program ever since. Right from track running activities, such as sprints, middle distance, long distance, hurdling, to throwing, jumping and composite activities, athletics offers a lot of variety to the sports-lovers.

In India, athletics has come a long way since the initial years, but it still has millions of miles to cover to reach the pinnacle of success. Even though Indian athletics has witnessed improvements in terms of facilities and infrastructure, the general standard of competition still leaves scope for a lot of improvement. However, some athletes like Anju Bobby George, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Milkha Singh, Norman Pritchard, P. T. Usha and T. C. Yohannan, have done India extremely proud, with their brilliant game and made a mark at the Olympics as well. Talking about the Indian athletics in recent years, the females have been doing better in Asian competitions, particularly the girls from Kerala. In this section, we have provided detailed information on the athletics in India.