The state of Punjab had always enjoyed a pre-eminent position in the field of Sports. To retain/improve the pristine glory and the pre-eminent position in realm of sports, an independent Department of Sports came into existence in the year 1975. Under the able guidance of the Department of Sports Punjab, many athletes of Punjab had given a par excellence performance and achieved exceptional positions in International sports arena, flying Sikh Milkha Singh, Olympian and Arjuna Awardee S. Surjit Singh, Olympian Prithpal Singh, Olympian Jarnail Singh, Arjuna Awardee Prem Chand Dogra and Padam Shree Pargat Singh are the few examples. Punjab had produced many stars of an International repute in all the disciplines recognised in India.

In the early nineties, a downward trend in the standard of sports in different disciplines created a cause of anxiety. Accordingly in the year 1993 a re-organisation of the sports set up was done by merging the Sports Wing of Khed Parishad, Sports Wings of Education Department into the Directorate of Sports to give a uniform direction to sports in the State of Punjab. At present, Punjab is only state which is having maximum numbers of Astro Turf hockey fields and Synthetic Tracks and Ultra Modern Sports infrastructure in the Country. The Punjab Sports Department has been also doing exceptionally well in handling the sports activities in the state which speaks of the fact that Punjab established its supremacy by winning the overall Raja Bhalindra Singh Trophy in 31st National Games held in Punjab in the year 2001 by bagging 163 medals. Punjab got 2nd Position in 32nd National Games held at Hyderabad in the year 2002 by winning 146 medals (54 Gold, 37 Silver and 55 Bronze). The performance of Punjab State in the different National Games as well as National Championships held so far speaks of the efforts put in by the Punjab Sports Department in the development and promotion of sports in the state.