5 sports which you did not know originated in India

#1 Badminton

A group of people playing badminton, possibly in India, in 1885

A descendant of battledore and shuttlecock, the game of badminton has its roots in ancient Greece over 200 years ago. However, the modern version of the game originated in India mostly. Since its introduction in the medieval times, the sport became immensely popular in India.

British Army officers who were posted in Pune in the early 19th century, were the first pioneers of the modern version of the game. As Pune was previously called Poona, the name of the game was also given as Poona, and the British played it competitively.

By the 1870s, the British had mastered the game while living in India and decided to take the equipment back to their homeland in a bid to introduce the sport in Europe. In 1873, a lawn party was hosted by the Duke of Beaufort in a place called Badminton in England.

‘Poona’ was played by those present at the party throughout the day and they enjoyed it immensely.It was only after this day that the sport was christened ‘Badminton’ after the name of the place and came to be known as party sport or more popularly, "the Badminton game".

Currently, the country is going through the golden era of badminton, with the likes of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, etc., winning several accolades for the country.