Participation of Indian Women in International Games and Sports from Rio Olympics 2016, Asian Games 2016 to Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic 2020

Abstract

An attempt has been made in this paper to review the participation of Indian females in international games and sports in a temporal context. Despite the fact that the female population accounts for about half of the total Indian population, the participation of females in games and sports in general and in international games, in particular, has been lower than the desired level. Moreover, the achievements of female participants have been significant at all levels of international games. The participation of Indian females in the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Asian Games (AG), and Olympic Games has been analyzed in terms of representation and achievements over a period. The Rio Olympics conducted in 2016 recorded a list of 117 participants from India. Of these, 63 were males, and the remaining 54 were female. In terms of proportions, females accounted for 47 percent while males accounted for 53 percent of the total participants. However, women participation in Tokyo Olympic 2020 was 53 out of a total of 121 participants. In terms of performance women athletes secured 3 medals out of a total of 7 medals to Indian credit accounting for about 43 percent of the total. Of the three medals won by Indian women sports persons, one was silver while the other two were bronze In Paralympics 2020, India performed the best in winning medals till now by winning five gold, eight silvers and six bronze medals (total 19). Similarly, women participation in Tokyo Paralympic2020 revealed that table tennis player Bhavina Patel won India's first Olympics (Paralympic) medal in Table Tennis. Shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history as she became the first Indian to win a medal in Shooting in the Paralympics. She also became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal and become multiple medalists in Paralympics. In Tokyo Paralympics 2020, India ranked 24th. Results revealed that sports like archery and badminton has higher female participation than males whereas in athletics, golf, shooting and wrestling, males are more represented than females. Similarly, sports like Judo, rowing and boxing females have no representation while in gymnastics males are not represented.