The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) or Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams at these events. It plays with the name of Team India. It also acts as the Indian Commonwealth Games Association, responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

Early history

Background and early years: The background behind the creation of the Indian Olympic Association was related to India's participation in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. After the 1920 Games, the committee sending the team to these games met, and, on the advice of Sir Dorab Tata, invited Dr. Noehren (Physical Education Director of YMCA India) to be secretary, along with AS Bhagwat, of the provisional Indian Olympic Committee; Dorab Tata would serve as its president. Subsequently, in 1923–24, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was formed, and the All India Olympic Games (that later became the

National Games of India The National Games of India consist of various disciplines in which athletes from the different states of India participate against each other. The country's first few Olympic Games, now renamed as National Games, were held in North India (De ...

) were held in Feb 1924. Eight athletes from these games were selected to represent India at the 1924 Paris Olympics, accompanied by manager Harry Crowe Buck. This gave impetus to the development and institutionalization of sports in India, and, in 1927, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), was created at the initiative of Harry Crowe Buck and Dr. A. G. Noehren (both of the Madras (YMCA) College of Physical Education). Sir

Dorab Tata Sir Dorabji Tata (27 August 1859 – 3 June 1932) was an Indian businessman of the British Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of the Tata Group. He was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to industry in British India. ...

was important in financing and supporting the movement and became the first Indian Olympic Association president in 1927. Messrs Buck and Noehren travelled across India and helped many states organise their Olympic associations. Noehren was the first Secretary and G. D. Sondhi was the first assistant secretary of the Indian Olympic Association, and, after Noehren resigned in 1938,

Sondhi Sondhi may refer to: Surname *Guru Dutt Sondhi (1890–1966), founder of the Asian Games Federation (AGF) *Man Mohan Sondhi (1933–2018), speech processing researcher at Bell Labs *Manohar Lal Sondhi (1933–2003), member of Lok Sabha *Maya Sond ...

and S.M. Moinul Haq became the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Indian Olympic Association. And so the Indian Olympic Association was formed in 1927, and since that year was officially recognised by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

as India's national Olympic organisation. In 1928, Maharaja Bhupindra Singh took over as Indian Olympic Association president. Early tasks: *''Sending Teams to the Olympics'': In its first decade, the Indian Olympic Association selected sportspersons to represent India at the Olympic Games in 1928, 1932, and 1936. Subsequently, by 1946–47, the Indian Olympic Association took responsibility only to send the Indian team to the Olympics (principally, this meant arranging transport, board, and accommodation), while the separate federations for each sport were responsible for selecting and training competitors for their sport. Reflecting this, ahead of the

1948 Olympics 1948 Olympics may refer to: *The 1948 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland *The 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an internation ...

, the IOA Council agreed that a team representing athletics, swimming, weight lifting, wrestling, boxing, football, and hockey, with officials for each of these sports, and a Chief Manager, would be entered for the 1948 Olympics. And so, from 1948 onward, India began sending teams representing several sports – each selected by its respective sports federation – to the Olympics. *''Securing Funding'': One of the Indian Olympic Association's main early challenges was to secure funding, so that it could send the national team to the Olympics and finance the related costs of transport, room, and board. It obtained funding from the Indian government, from the state governments, and from various state sports federations. Illustrating this, IOA President Yadavindra Singh's appeal for funding in 1948 stated: "We need about 3 Lacs of rupees to finance" the Indian Olympic team for the London Olympics; that "the youth taking part in these games become ambassadors of goodwill" for India; and that "careful selection, intensive training and proper equipment is most essential" to field a competitive team, but that the Indian Olympic Association is "greatly handicapped for want of sufficient funds" for these tasks. The Indian Olympic Association thus undertook wider outreach with several national sports federations, and essentially became a clearing house that coordinated the sending of multiple sports teams – each selected by their respective sports federations – to the Olympics. *''The National Games'': The Indian Olympic Association had one other major responsibility: that of holding the biennial National Games (Indian Olympics). It recognised, in the 1920s-1940s, that the promotion of sports in India needed a National Games, because there was no overall national sports federation of India. Instead, there were separate national federations for each sport, such as athletics, swimming, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting, cycling, boxing, football. These sports federations essentially held their national championships at the Indian National Games.

IOA Presidents

* Acting

IOA Secretary Generals

IOA Executive Council

Following is the IOA Executive Committee for the 2017–2021 term. * ✝ Janardhan Singh Gehlot died in office on 28 April 2021.

State Olympic Associations

# Andaman and Nicobar Olympic Association # Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association # Arunachal Pradesh Olympic Association # Assam Olympic Association
Bihar Olympic Association
# Chandigarh Olympic Association # Chhattisgarh Olympic Association # Delhi Olympic Association # Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Olympic Association # Goa Olympic Association # Gujarat State Olympic Association #

Haryana Olympic Association , native_name_lang= Hindi , logo= , logo_size= 250px , logo_caption= Logo of Haryana Olympic Association , abbreviation= HOA , motto= , formation= , founder= , founding_location= , type= State Sports Association , registration_id= , ...

# Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association # Jammu and Kashmir Olympic Association # Jharkhand Olympic Association # Karnataka Olympic Association # Kerala Olympic Association # Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association # Maharashtra Olympic Association # Manipur Olympic Association # Meghalaya State Olympic Association # Mizoram Olympic Association # Nagaland Olympic Association # Odisha Olympic Association # Pondicherry Olympic Association # Punjab Olympic Association # Rajasthan Olympic Association # Sikkim Olympic Association # Tamil Nadu Olympic Association # Olympic Association of Telangana # Tripura State Olympic Association # Uttarakhand Olympic Association
Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association
# West Bengal Olympic Association #

Railways Sports Promotion Board Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) (originally known as Railways Sports Control Board) is a sports board run by the Indian Railways. It was formed as the Indian Railways Athletic Association in 1928. It promotes 30 sporting disciplines and ...

Services Sports Control Board Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) is a sports board run by the Indian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1919 as the Army Sports Control Board and later renamed to Services Sports Control Board. The board is represented as Services in the Nation ...

National Sports Federations

National sports federations are categorized in two categories i.e. Olympic Sports and Other Recognized Sports The IOC's membership currently includes 38 National Sports Federations.

IOC Permanent Olympic Sports

IOC Winter Olympic Sports

These all sports are under the Winter Games Federation of India.

IOC recognized sports

Others

Following are some sports which IOC does not recognise as a Sport.

Disputes

On 26 April 2011, after the arrest of its president

Suresh Kalmadi Suresh Kalmadi (born 1 May 1944) is an Indian politician who spent 10 months in jail from April 2011 to January 2012 on corruption charges related to his time in charge of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He was accused of awarding a con ...

Vijay Kumar Malhotra Vijay Kumar Malhotra (born 3 December 1931) is an Indian politician and a sport administrator. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was born in the Lahore city of Punjab in British India which is now in Pakistan. He was the 4th out of ...

was the acting president of the IOA up to 5 December 2012. The election of Lalit Bhanot as Secretary General was considered controversial by some due to his alleged involvement in the

Commonwealth Games Scam A number of concerns and controversies surfaced before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, which received widespread media coverage both in India (the host nation) and the rest of the world. The Commonwealth Games was severely cri ...

. On 4 December 2012, the

suspended the IOA on the basis of corruption, government interference, and not following guidelines of the IOC. Several members of the IOA have been charged with crimes. The IOA was formally banned for not following the

Olympic Charter The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 17th of July 2020 during the 136th IOC Session, held by video conference. Adop ...

in their elections, instead following the Indian government's Sports Code. The IOA held elections under the Indian Sports Code due to a directive from the

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi (IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S. ...

. On 15 May 2013, International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to lift the ban on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as Indian representatives from the government and sports bodies reached an agreement with IOC officials. India still did not have its three competitors play under the national flag at the Winter 2014 Olympics. On 9 February, an election was held to choose a head of the IOA.

Abhay Singh Chautala Abhay Singh Chautala (born 14 February 1963) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from Ellenabad assembly constituency. He was the leader of opposition from the party, INLD. He is the grandson of ex-de ...

and Lalit Bhanot were ineligible due to having court charges against them. With the support of Abhay Singh Chautala, the president of the

World Squash Federation The World Squash Federation (WSF) is the Sport governing body, international federation for Squash (sport), squash, an indoor racket sport which was formerly called "squash rackets". The WSF is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (I ...

Narayana Ramachandran Narayana Ramachandran is an Indian squash administrator & Triathlon Administrator who served as the President of WSF (World Squash Federation). He was elected on 2008, succeeding Jahangir Khan of Pakistan. He also served as 12th President of ...

, was instead elected. On 11 February 2014, the International Olympic Committee revoked the ban enforced on Indian Olympic Association. As a result, India returned to the Olympic fold after 14-months.

Multi-sport events hosted by IOA

1951 Asian Games The 1951 Asian Games ( hi, 1951 एशियाई खेल; Marathi: १९५१ आशियाई खेळ), officially known as the First Asian Games, was a multi-sport event celebrated in New Delhi, India from 4 to 11 March 1951. The Game ...

1982 Asian Games The 9th Asian Games ( hi, 1982 एशियाई खेल) were held from 19 November to 4 December 1982, in Delhi, India. 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken at the event. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of ...

1987 South Asian Games The 1987 South Asian Games, officially the 3rd South Asian Federation Games were a multi-sport event, held in Kolkata, India from 20 November to 27 November 1987. It was the largest sporting event ever to be held in Kolkata, and West Bengal as ...

1995 South Asian Games The 1995 South Asian Games (or 7th SAF Games) were held in Madras, India between 18 and 27 December 1995.National Sports Council, Nepa"South Asian Games". Retrieved on 16 February 2011 Medal tally Sports * * * * * (debut) * * * * Swimming ( ...

2003 Afro-Asian Games The 2003 Afro-Asian Games, officially known as the First Afro-Asian Games or I Afro-Asian Games and unofficially known as the Inaugural Afro-Asian Games, was a major international multi-sport sporting event, event held in Hyderabad, India, from ...

2007 Military World Games The 2007 Military World Games, officially the 4th CISM Military World Games were held at the twin-cities Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad - Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India from 14–21 October 2007. Some parts of the games were also held ...

2008 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games (Hindi: 2008 कॉमनवेल्थ यूथ गेम्स), officially known as the III Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Pune 2008, a regional sporting event that was held from 12 to 18 O ...

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

2011 South Asian Winter Games The 1st South Asian Winter Games were held in Dehradun and Auli, in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, India in January 2011. The games were conducted by the Indian Olympic Association and the Winter Games Federation of India. A grand opening ...

2014 Lusophony Games The 2014 Lusophone Games was the 3rd edition of the Lusophone Games, a multi-sport event that represent athletes from Portuguese-speaking countries and territories. It was held from 18 to 29 January 2014 in the Indian state of Goa. Brazil and Sri ...

2016 South Asian Games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 sports ...

Social media

The IOA is present on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, with the Press Office of the Committee running an official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page, as well as

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

accounts. The IOA debuted a new logo and new campaign tag #EkIndiaTeamIndia in 2020, this was celebrated on India's independence day 15 August 2020. The previous logo was created in 1924 at the inception of the IOA, the logo emphasized the Star of India. Through symbols of the Tiraṅgā the new logo celebrates the pride, dignity and lifetime of determined hard work given by India's finest athletes. The logo was created by Smitten an international design firm founded in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

by Smita Rajgopal.

Recognition of athletes and coaches

From the 2016 Summer Olympics, Olympic medallists and their coaches have been given advance consideration for the

National Sports Awards The National Sports Awards is the collective name given to the six sports awards of the Republic of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. They are presented by the President of India in the same ceremony at th ...

if they have not already received one. As of 2021, the Indian Olympic Association recognises Olympic medallists with the following cash prizes: for gold medallists, for silver and for bronze. Coaches of Olympic medallists receive , and , respectively.

National level

Olympic medallists are rewarded by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

with the following cash prizes as of 2021: for gold medallists, for silver and for bronze.

State and union territory level

At the state/territorial level, Olympians receive cash awards of various amounts, depending on their home region. ;Monetary awards for Olympians and coaches by state/territory (as of 2021):

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Sports governing bodies in India India at the Olympics Sports organizations established in 1927 1927 establishments in India