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Events That Have Put India On The Sports World Map From ancient times, the people of India

have been organizing many interesting sporting events for entertainment purposes and to ensure physical fitness. Field hockey is considered the national sport in India, and the country has won eight Olympic gold medals in field hockey, though cricket is the most popular sport. Recent RTI revealed that India has no National game which people used to say it was hockey. A wide variety of sports is played throughout the country. These include kabbadi, kho kho, pehlwani, and gilli-danda. British rule brought many popular sports in India including football, rugby union, cricket, golf, shooting, tennis, squash, field hockey, boxing, snooker, and billiards. Major international sporting events annually held in India include the Chennai Open, Mumbai Marathon, Delhi Half Marathon, and the Indian Masters. India also hosted its first Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit, an Indian motor racing circuit in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh in India. The National Games of India is the current domestic sports event of the country held since 1924. India is also home to cricket's Indian Premier League, launched in 2008. According to Forbes magazine, IPL is the second richest sporting league after the NBA. Stalwarts like Vishwanathan Anand, Sachin Tendulkar, Saina Nehwal, Dhyanchand, Sunil Gavaskar, Gopichand, P. T. Usha, Geet Sethi, Abhinav Bindra, and many more helped India get into the world sports news for their respective sports. Here are a few sporting events that India has hosted that are known throughout the world: Indian Premier League (IPL): The IPL is veritably the most talked about sporting event of recent times hosted by India. With more than 60 matches being scheduled during 45 days, the IPL has evolved into a world renowned event in just 4 years of its inception. Formed in 2008, with a proficient league of 20 teams and promoted by the Cricket Board (BCCI), the IPL Players are the second highest paid cricketers from all around the globe. This is the first globally recognized sporting event that has been broadcast live on YouTube. Cricket highlights are the most sought after videos during the IPL season every year. Commonwealth Games 2010: The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four rd th years. India hosted this prestigious event in 2010 in the nations capital, Delhi, from 3 to 14 October. The official mascot of the Games was Shera and the official song of the Games, "Jiyo Utho Badho Jeeto" was composed by the celebrated Indian music composer A.R. Rahman. Field Hockey: Until the mid 1970s, India dominated international field hockey, winning eight Olympic gold medals and won the inaugural Men's Hockey World Cup held in 1975. Since then, barring a gold medal in the 1980 Olympics, India's performance in field hockey has been dismal, with other hockey-playing nations such as Australia, Netherlands and Germany improving their standards and catching up with India. Its decline is also partly due to the internal politics in Indian field hockey bodies. Its popularity has also declined massively in parallel to the decline of the Indian hockey team. In recent times, the standard of Indian hockey has gone form from bad to worse, with the Indian hockey team not qualifying for the 2008 Olympics and finishing last in the recent 2012 Olympics. Currently, the Indian team is 11th in the FIH rankings. Many channels that provide sports videos carry this event live to television viewers all over the world.

Whether it is a rustic sport like Kabaddi being played in the street or a playground or the gentlemans game of cricket, the vitality and enthusiasm of India always reflects in the sports events. If you have been looking for a website that allows you to catch up on what is happening in football, cricket, tennis, golf and many more sports, anywhere in the world, you can log onto: www.vpsportscast.com.

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