Republic Day 2026: What India must get right in sports going forward

As India celebrates its 77th Republic Day, it’s worth looking at how the country has evolved in the world of sport over the last seven decades.

India had achieved a fair bit while it was still under British rule, thanks to its men’s hockey team led by the legendary Major Dhyan Chand and sprinter Norman Pritchard. The country’s hockey dominance would continue after independence with India winning six consecutive Olympic gold medals by the 1956 Melbourne Games, and would remain a force in the sport for the next couple of decades.

India had also hit their peak in football during this period by qualifying for the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and finishing fourth at the Olympics six years later. It was also around this time that independent India won its first individual Olympic medal in the form of a bronze for wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav at Helsinki 1952.

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Cricket, meanwhile, would start picking up in India during the 1970s, coinciding with the gradual decline of hockey and football, before exploding in popularity following the 1983 World Cup triumph and firmly establishing itself as the No 1 sport in India – a position it has not relinquished since.

Fast forward to 2026, and cricket remains unchallenged as the only sport that can be equated to a religion in this country. And while India appears to have hit rock bottom in football for now, they have made significant improvement in hockey – both the men’s and women’s game – in recent years besides witnessing growth in other sports such as badminton, wrestling, shooting and chess.

Can India touch double-digit mark in the next Olympics?

What does that mean for the country though as far its goals for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and its long term sporting ambitions are concerned?

Well for starters, India’s Olympic story has witnessed a growth in an overall sense regardless of how it fares individually in each sport. From a time when it was heavily dependent on hockey to avoid returning empty-handed and actually witnessing a barren run thrice in four editions (1976 and then from 1984 to 1992) to a relative medal boom since the 2008 Beijing Games – with India winning 24 medals in the last five editions.

A key component to the sudden influx of Olympic medals since 2008 has been investing in the sport and nurturing talent at the grassroots level as well as offering support to select athletes identified as potential medallists. Programmes such as Khelo India and TOPS (Target Olympics Podium Scheme) have played a primarily role in this context.

At the same time, the incredible achievements of athletes such as Abhinav Bindra and Neeraj Chopra –the only Indians to win an individual Olympic gold medal – cannot be discounted as far inspiring the next generation is concerned.

And looking ahead to the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles more than two years from now, India’s primary target will be to enter a double-digit medal haul – a feat that could become a defining moment in Indian sport history.

Javelin star Chopra remains a key medal hope heading into the 34th Summer Olympics despite going through a slight decline since his silver at the Paris Olympics, with the spotlight also fixed on Bhaker and the shooting contingent as well as the men’s hockey team – which has won bronze in the last two editions.

At the same time, India will be hoping to win more medals in wrestling after winning just one in Paris 2024 through Aman Sehrawat – although Vinesh Phogat would have won at least silver had she not been disqualified for being overweight.

And while India certainly be hopeful of expanding its reach to other sports, its priority will be to regain foothold in boxing and badminton – sports which had delivered multiple medals in the last decade-and-a-half but drew a blank in the French capital, with Indian shuttlers failing to win a single medal for the first time in 12 years.

Last, but not the least, cricket’s return to the Olympic fold after more than a century also comes as great news for India, greatly boosting their hopes of winning at least one gold in Los Angeles.

How LA28 could influence India’s Olympic dream

India’s performance at ‘LA28’ could also be crucial to the country’s hopes of hosting major multi-sporting events over the next decade. Ahmedabad has already been awarded the 2030 Commonwealth Games and thus becomes the second Indian city after New Delhi to host the prestigious quadrennial sporting competition that involves Britain and its Commonwealth, including its former colonies.

Hosting the Summer Olympics, however, is a different ballgame altogether, and India will require a massive overhaul in its existing sporting infrastructure if they are to become only the fourth Asian country after Japan, South Korea and China to join the Olympic fold.

The Narendra Modi-led government has already announced Ahmedabad as the host city in its bid for the 2036 Olympics, with the construction of brand new facilities including a new sports complex currently underway. It will, however, require unprecedented levels of effort and dedication for India to actually fulfil its Olympic dream.

It’s also worth noting at the same time that countries that have hosted the Summer Olympic Games in the past are generally nations that have been successful to some extent. Barring Mexico, which had hosted the 1968 Games, all the countries that have won more than a hundred Olympic medals till date and at a double-digit haul in at least one edition.

India, in comparison, have won just 41 medals till date including 10 gold, with the seven medals that they had won in Tokyo 2020 being their single biggest haul till date. They have the opportunity to change that in LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032, but it’s the former that will play a greater role in deciding whether India gets to fulfil its Olympic dream a decade from now or not.