History of Indian Olympics Association came from the background of India"s participation in European games like football, archery, volleyball, basketball, shooting and gymnastics in India and International arena.
The background behind the creation of the Indian Olympic Association was related to India"s participation in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics Games. After the 1920 Olympics Games, the committee of Indian Olympic Association send the team to the Olympic games for the approval from the Physical Instructor.
Dorab Tata as Indian Olympic Association
Dorab Tata served Indian Olympic Association as its president in 1920. Subsequently, in 1923-1924, a provisional All India Olympic Committee was formed, and the All India Olympic Games (that later became the National Games of India) were held in February 1924.
Indian Olympic Association in 1924- 1930
Indian Olympic Association chose eight athletes from these games to represent India at the 1924 Paris Olympics, accompanied by manager Harry Crowe Buck. This gave impetus to the development and institutionalization of sports in India, and, in 1927, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), was created at the initiative of Harry Crowe Buck and Dr. A. G. Noehren (both of the Madras (YMCA) College of Physical Education). Dorab Tata was important in financing and supporting the movement and became the first Indian Olympic Association president in 1927. Messrs Buck and Noehren travelled across India and helped many states organise their Olympic associations. Noehren was the first Secretary and G. D. Sondhi was the first assistant secretary of the Indian Olympic Association, and, after Noehren resigned in 1938, Sondhi and S.M. Moinul Haq became the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Indian Olympic Association. And so the Indian Olympic Association was formed in 1927, and since that year was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee as India`s national Olympic organisation. In 1928, Maharaja Bhupindra Singh took over as Indian Olympic Association as a president.
Indian Olympic Association in 1940-1947
The Indian Olympic Association undertook the wider outreach in 1940"s with several national sports federations, and essentially became a clearing house that coordinated the sending of multiple sports teams - each selected by their respective sports federations - to the Olympics.
Indian Olympic Association and National Games
Indian Olympic Association had one other major responsibility of holding the biennial National Games. It recognised, in the 1920s-1940s, that the promotion of sports in India needed a National Game, because there was no overall national sports federation of India. Instead, there were separate national federations for each sport, such as athletics, swimming, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting, cycling, boxing, football. These sports federations essentially held their national championships at the Indian National Games.
Indian Olympic Association is a non profitable body responsible for selecting the young athletes to represent India at the Olympic Games, Asian Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams at the events. Indian Olympic Association acts as the Indian Commonwealth Games Association, responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Commonwealth Games.
