With just 2 percent of India’s population, the state of Haryana has won 30 percent of Olympic medals.
How can they achieve it alone? How can Haryana alone produce so many Olympic record holders? Now let’s see about that.
India has won more than 38 medals in the Olympics since 1900.
Notably, more than 30 percent of India’s individual medals in Olympic history have been won by athletes from the state of Haryana.
Haryana, which is predominantly agricultural, is the athletic hub of India.
Villages in Haryana’s Sonepat district are famous for producing champion wrestlers, producing Olympic medalists Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Yogeshwar Dutt.
31 from Haryana and 19 from Punjab were included in the 126-member Indian team that went to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
2020 is no exaggeration when it comes to India’s Olympic golden age. Among them, Neeraj Chopra, who won gold in individual medals for India in athletics, Ravikumar Dahiya, who won silver in wrestling, and Bajrang Punia, who won bronze in wrestling, all hail from villages in Haryana. Also, the bronze-winning men’s hockey team had four individual players from the state of Haryana.
Indian athletes have won 23 individual medals in Olympic history. Among them, seven players from Haryana set a record by winning 7 medals.
Shooting, javelin, wrestling, boxing, archery, hockey, golf, etc. There are many reasons for the achievement of Olympic athletes from Haryana alone.
Haryana is a state with a turbulent history due to its geographical location on the border due to continuous occupation. Hence, the people of that state naturally possess unique defensive qualities like physical strength and perseverance.
The youth of Haryana spend most of their time in agriculture and sports practices, mostly involved in hard physical labour.
Especially, wrestling has been a traditional sport in the villages of Haryana state since ages. Most of the villages in Haryana have training centers for the same. In those training halls, boys and girls practice in mud pits. And in rural Haryana, wrestling is considered a good sport for exercise.
Biwani, the largest district of Haryana, is also known as mini Cuba as some quality boxers like Vijender Singh, Vikas Yadav hail from this district. It is a surprising fact that in Bhiwani, almost all the boys know how to fight.
Not only the Government of India, but also the State Government of Haryana is implementing welfare schemes to encourage sportspersons.
The silver medalists of the Tokyo Olympics will receive Rs. 4 crores and cash prize of Rs.2.5 crores to the bronze medalists. Also, the government has provided houses at concessional rates. Also, sportspersons are given priority in state government jobs.
It is also worth mentioning that Neeraj Chopra, India’s only gold winner, was given a cash prize of Rs 6 crore.
Most of the people in Haryana live in rural areas, where modern lifestyle habits have not yet penetrated.
The people of Haryana follow what Sanakyan said in Artha Shastra that flour has ten times more energy than rice, milk has ten times more energy than flour, meat has eight times more energy than milk and ghee has ten times more energy than meat.
People of Haryana eat protein rich foods. Especially they eat a lot of curd, ghee and milk. If one is trained in athletics with a strong physique, it is easy to excel in any sport.
It is worth mentioning that 24 of the 117 Indian athletes who have gone to participate in the 2024 Olympics are from Haryana.
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