| India at the 1920 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 Flag ofIndia | |
| IOC code | IND |
| NOC | Indian Olympic Association |
| Website | olympic |
| inAntwerp | |
| Competitors | 5 in 2 sports |
| Flag bearer | Purma Bannerjee[1] |
| Medals |
|
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
India competed in the1920 Summer Olympics inAntwerp, Belgium. It was the country's second participation in theSummer Olympics after a single athlete,Norman Pritchard,competed in the1900 Summer Olympics. India sent a contingent consisting of five athletes competing across two sports in the Games. India competed in thewrestling event for the first time in the history of the Games.Purma Bannerjee served as the flag bearer during the opening ceremony.
India competed in the1920 Summer Olympics held inAntwerp, Belgium.[3] It was the country's second participation in theSummer Olympics after a single athlete (Norman Pritchard)competed in the1900 Summer Olympics.[4]
During a sports meet at the Deccan Gymkhana inPune in 1919, the Gymkhana presidentDorabji Tata expressed a desire for India to take part in the1920 Summer Olympics. He requested Lloyd George, theGovernor of Bombay, who presided the meet, to secure representation for India at the Olympics through theBritish Olympic Committee. As a result, in February 1920, theInternational Olympic Committee granted India affiliation to participate in the Olympic Games.[5][6]
Thereafter, a committee comprising of Dorab Tata,Hassan Ali Fyzee,Sohrab bhoot, and other Deccan Gymkhana members met in March 1920 to discuss India's Olympic participation, and decided to hold a trial meet in Pune in April 1920.[5] At the trial meet, the committee selectedPurma Bannerjee, P. D. Chaugule,Sadashiv Datar, and H. D. Kaikadi forathletics,Dinkarrao Shinde andKumar Navale forwrestling.[6][7] Bhoot was the manager and Fyzee was the medical officer and adviser for the team.[8][9] Dorabji Tata donated₹8,000 (equivalent to₹1.5 million or US$17,000 in 2023), while theIndian government gave₹6,000 (equivalent to₹1.1 million or US$13,000 in 2023), with private donations amounting to₹7,000 (equivalent to₹1.3 million or US$15,000 in 2023).[10][11]
The team leftBombay on 5 June aboard the SS Mantua, and trained inStamford Bridge inLondon for six weeks under English coach H. Parry before proceeding to Antwerp.[10][12] After the Games, Bhoot submitted a report mentioning that India could have future Olympic success in hockey and wrestling and made recommendations concerning technical, organisational, and training issues for future Olympic teams. The committee that sent the team met again, and on the advice of Dorabji Tata, and formed the provisionalIndian Olympic Committee with Tata as its president and A. G. Noehren as secretary. This provisional committee sent an Indian team to the1924 Summer Olympics, and became the Indian Olympic Association in 1927.[4][13]
There were five athletes who took part in two sports.[7]
| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Wrestling | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Four Indians qualified for the athletics events at the Olympics. However, H. D. Kaikadi did not compete in the event.Purma Bannerjee did not advance from the initial qualification heats in themen's 100 and400 metre events. In the in themarathon event,Phadeppa Chaugule finished 19th overall whileSadashiv Datar failed to record a finish.[7]
| Athlete | Event | Heats | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | ||
| Purma Bannerjee | 100 m | Unknown | 5 | Did not advance | |||||
| 400 m | 53.1 | 4 | |||||||
| Phadeppa Chaugule | 10000 m | — | Did not finish | Did not advance | |||||
| Marathon | — | 2:50:45.4 | 19 | ||||||
| Sadashiv Datar | Marathon | Did not finish | |||||||
Note: Ranks given are within the heat.
Two wrestlersDinkarrao Shinde andKumar Navale represented India in the wrestling events.[7] It was the nation's debut appearance in the sport.[4] Navale was lost in the first round, while Dinkarrao Shinde won the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals and the bronze medal match to finish fourth.[14][15]
| Wrestler | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals / Bronze match | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinkarrao Shinde | Featherweight | — | Bye |  Inman (GBR) (W) |  Gerson (USA) (L) | Bernard (GBR) (L) | 4 |
| Kumar Navale | Middleweight | Bye | Johnson (USA) | Did not advance | 9 | ||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||