Many of us know Tata as a Industry but on the other side they even had a passion for sports. At a time when sports was not so popular in India, Dorabji Tata had a different opinion. During his graduation days, he watched how sports were evolving in England and how people started it up professionally. So after returning from England he started setting up sports clubs in Mumbai.
He wanted India to be among the top Sporting countries. For this to happen India had to compete among the best in the world. During this time there was the evolvement of Olympics taking place globally and people slowly started to recognize it. So Tata wanted Indians to participate in the Olympics.
In 1919 when India was still under the rule of the British it was not easy for the Indians to get access to the Olympics. Tata requested the British to affiliate Indians to the Olympics.
Participation In 1920 Games
Finally, India got affiliated in 2020. But there were only 6 months left for the Games to begin. Dorabji Tata had his task cut out to bring out Athletes who could participate. At those times there were no National games for any sport held so Tata found it hard to bring in quality athletes. Then he formed a 5 member committee that looked on for promising athletes around India. No athlete at start knew anything professional about the sport.
The athletes were not educated and did not have any knowledge about the European culture making it even more difficult for Tata. He then slowly started educating them about it and sent the athletes in advance to get themselves accustomed to the condition.
Financial Issues
There was no proper funding by the government to send the athletes to the Games so again Tata took the financial burden on him by giving more than 80 percent of the money for the games and the rest were given by the princely states and the government.
Although the Indians couldn't win any medals this helped them understand how sports are being played outside and get the required exposure. After the 2020 games, India registered itself as IOC (Indian Olympic Association) and started sending more athletes than before by generating more funds.
This indeed was a great achievement by Dorabji Tata who had done this single-handedly which should have been done by the Govt. Even today they promote sports in cities like Jamshedpur by constructing their own academies and giving equal opportunities to all.
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