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Eternal India
encyclopedia
SPORTS
Events today are conducted under two categories; the gruelling
road races including the marathon and the track races with team
events and time trials. For the most part racing cyclists are at
liberty to choose any kind of a bicycle subject to official regulations
for the kind of racing involved.
Cycling in India is a relatively new sport, though the Cycling
Federation of India was formed in 1939. However, India's first
international appearance was in the 1934 Empire Games (as the
Commonwealth Games were then called) when Janki Dass repre-
sented the country.
In the first Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1951, India won
one silver and two bronze medals. The silver came in the 4000
metres team event; the squad comprising R.K. Mehra, Madan Mo-
han, Dhangar and Gurdev Singh. The bronze medals were won by
R.R. Noble and N.C. Bysack in the 1000 m sprint and 1000 m time
trials respectively.
Arjuna Awards:
Amar Singh, Minati Mohapatra and Armin
R.
Palkhiwala.
DICE
The earliest dice date back to the Sumerian royal
tombs of Ur of the third millenium B.C. The Greeks
played dice during banquets, while rich and noble
Romans had special rooms set aside for dicing
games. Dice has also been a popular game of ancient
India wherein one of the forms was known as 'pachisi' meaning '25',
the maximum score that can be obtained from one throw with six
cowrie shells, which were used instead of an engraved cube. In
fact, the Indian epic the
Mahabharata
revolves around the game of
dice, wherein the Pandava prince Yudhistira staked his all including
his wife and lost miserably to the Kauravas.
However, the game of 'pachisi' is believed to have originated a
little earlier than the sixth century. Traces of dice boards have been
found in the cave temples of Ellora and also at Agra and Allahabad.
The Mughal emperor Akbar, who ruled during 1556 to 1605 A.D.,
had a huge open-air board of inlaid marble. In the centre was a dais
or platform on which the king and his courtiers sat. Instead of
pieces, the king used girls from his harem.
Another variant of the game is called 'Chausar' in which three
oblong four-sided dice are used instead of cowrie shells. Another
difference is that in the game of 'pachisi' a piece may rest in a
capture free castle, whereas in chausar there are no castles or
safety places. References to dice and types of throws are also
found in the Vedas and Puranas of India. While the 'pachisi' board
is often a cross shaped cloth, another type of the game using
wooden boards is popular in Tamil Nadu. The wooden board has
two rows of pouches and the game is played using dried tamarind
seeds as pieces and cowrie shells as dice.
The modern English game of 'ludo' played on a square board has
originated from the game of dice.
Refer Vol-II Sec. Z — Kaleidoscope
EQUESTRIAN
Derived from the Latin word Equesteris, evidence of horse-rid-
ing dates back to a Persian engraving of 3000 B.C. While the four-
horse chariot race was introduced in the 25th ancient Olympics in
680 B.C., the first actual mounted horse race was introduced in the
33rd ancient Olympics in 648 B.C.
Horsemanship as art developed in Italy
during the Renaissance when academies
were set up devoted to equestrianism. The
first such academy was founded by Pignatelli
in Naples to produce 'masters of the horse'.
As a competitive sport it began in the 18th
century and the Royal Dublin Society formed
in 1731 organised the first contest. The sport became popular in
Britain by the 19th century and the first jumping competition was
held at the Agricultural Hall, London in 1869.
An equestrian event comprising 'dressage', 'slow jumping' and
the 'three-day event' (which includes an endurance test as well as
jumping and dressage) was introduced in the 1912 Stockholm
Olympic Games.
Though horse racing and chariot racing are a part of ancient In-
dian mythology, the sport in its present form came to Asia only in
the 1970 s. It was first introduced in the Asian Games in 1982 at
Delhi.
Arjuna Awards:
Dafadar Khan, Mohammad Khan, Lt. Col. H.S.
Sodhi, Maj. Rupinder Singh Brar, Raghubir Singh, Captain Ghulam
Mohd Khan and Maj. Jitendrajit Singh Ahluwalia.
FOOTBALL
The origin of this most popular game the world
over is not very clear. There are many versions
of the origins of this game, which is popularly
known as soccer - the term, perhaps, having
been derived from the fact that
some of the
players in the earlier days used to play the game
wearing socks.
According to one legend, the game was a familiar activity in
China around 200 B.C. The Chinese played the game with a ball
made of eight strips and stuffed with hair. There is also evidence of
a football match between China and Japan around 50 B.C. Another
legend
goesthat the ancient Greeks developed this
game, which
was adopted bythe Romans,
who in turn brought it
to the British
Isles. Yet another legendary tale narrates that in 11th century
England, some labourers while excavating the earth near a battle-
field found the skull of a Danish soldier. As the Danes were the
most hated rivals at that time, the labourers ventilated their hatred
by kicking the skull around. This was imitated by boys who replaced
the skull with an inflated cow bladder.
The game became very popular among the common people
during the middle ages, so much so that the royal and aristocratic
societies tried to ban the game. The game survived all the repres-
sive measures and once again became very popular in the 19th cen-
tury through the English Public Schools. The first set of soccer rules
was framed by the Cambridge University in 1846 and the Football
Association founded in England on 26th October 1863. In the first
F.A. Cup instituted in 1871, 15 teams participated and the first
official international match between England and Scotland ended in
a 0-0 draw in 1872. The penalty kicks were introduced in 1891 and
the first international match between non-British sides was played
in 1902 in which Austria defeated Hungary 5-1. The Federation
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was formed in 1904
with France, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and
Spain as members. Ironically, England got affiliated to the FIFA
only in 1924 to withdraw in 1928 and get re-affiliated after the Sec-
ond World War.