Haryana @ Olympics: Tracing the State’s journey

The Olympics season is upon us. The Olympics is the season where the best of sports talent is portrayed in front of the whole world. India is also a major contributor to the Olympics, since Indian independence and even prior to it, India has participated in almost every Olympic season. India since independence has won 35 medals & has produced legends such as Dhyan Chand, Sardar Singh, PV Sindhu, Neeraj Chopra to name a few. India in the 2024 Paris Olympics is sending a contingent of 117 olympic athletes, to represent India in various disciplines of different sports. One of the state which has consistently contributed to the list of legendary Indian Olympians is Haryana. 

The state that shines the brightest in the entire contingent, is Haryana. Haryana is sending 24 athletes out of a total of 117 sportspersons in this edition of the games. Haryana despite having a population of just 3.09 crores has consistently sent a lot of Olympians to represent India, who have also won Olympic medals to their name. One of the sports where Haryana has constantly sent athletes since the dawn of the 21st century is Wrestling. The streak of Haryanvi dominance in the sport began in 2008, when Sushil Kumar won a medal at the Beijing Olympics. This was further strengthened in 2012 when Yogeshwar Dutt & Sushil Kumar won silver & bronze medals respectively.

Then in 2016, which was one of India’s weakest Olympic performances, Sakshi Malik had won the silver medal in wrestling & in a hat-trick of sorts, in 2020 again 2 Olympian wrestlers from Haryana, namely Ravi Kumar Dahiya & Bajrang Punia won a silver & bronze medal respectively. In this year's Olympics Haryana is sending talented athletes like Antim Panghal, Vinesh Phogat to name a few. The interesting snippet is that, in wrestling the last 5 Olympic medals have been won by Haryana born athletes only, so this time there is a strong chance that Haryanvi athletes would be winning big at the wrestling event. The state benefits primarily in wrestling due to the enormous presence of akhadas in the state. 

The second sport where Haryana has started to take off is the sport of athletics. The shining star in this aspect was Neeraj Chopra who broke India’s wait for an Olympics individual gold after 14 years. Haryana has produced good athletes in various sports of athletics, with Neeraj Chopra being one among the illustrious list. Neeraj Chopra would look to successfully defend his Olympics Gold Medal in the Paris Games. The other notable athletes in Haryana from the past have been Krishna Poonia, Seema Punia, Naveen Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Amit Khatri who have won medals in Asian Games if not in the Olympics.

One of the biggest para-athlete of India, Deepa Malik is also from Haryana who has won more than 2 Paralympics medals in successive events since the 21st century. Paralympian Sumit Antil is also from Haryana, who had won a medal in para-javelin throw. Haryana Athletes were the runaway winners in the Khelo India Youth Games of 2024. Athletics is one of the emerging spots of Haryana’s emerging sporting economy. The competition for athletics in the state is the prime reason why Haryana has been producing world class athletes in all disciplines of athletics. 

The third sport where Haryana has enjoyed a competitive advantage is boxing. The emergence of this sport is also closely linked to the akhada culture present in the state. Currently, one of India’s brightest hopes for a boxing medal, Amit Panghal also hails from the state. Boxers like Saweety Bora, Puja Rani (Quarter finalist in Tokyo Olympics), Nitu Ghanghas, Preeti Dahiya, Vikas Krishnan Yadav, Manish Kaushik, Nishant Dev have gone on to put on strong performances in the Asian, Commonwealth & Olympic games over the years. In various editions of Khelo India Youth Games, Haryana based boxers have outperformed their peers from other states. In this Olympics, also, Haryana based boxers would hope to put up strong performances and add medals to India’s tally at large. 

There are other sports as well, where Haryana has contributed massively like shooting which has produced world class shooters like Manu Bhaker who is one of India’s brightest hopes to bring an elusive medal in shooting sport category. Archery is also dependent on Hisar based archer, Bhajan Kaur to bring India’s first medal in archery since independence. Apart from the individual sports, Haryana’s contribution to the sport of Hockey can’t be forgotten by any neutral sports fan. Talented Olympians like Sharmila Devi, Rani Rampal, Navjot Kaur, Navneet Kaur, Neha Goyal have all represented India in women’s hockey in the previous edition of Olympics, when India finished fourth for the first time. In a humorous way, many netizens have pointed out that India’s hockey team is made up of Haryana, Punjab & Odisha players only, which goes on to show the dominance of the state in team sports as well. 

Haryana, is one of the states which has produced world class athletes in various sports who have gone on to win medals for India at the highest international levels. The biggest reason is the family support & state government support that these athletes enjoy, which helps them to give their best, in the biggest stage of them all. In the upcoming Olympics, let's hope that all Indian athletes perform as per their fullest potential and win lots of medals for the nation.

About the author: Srikar Srivatsa Dahagam is an incoming MA International Economics at IHEID, Geneva.