<P> The first known official international tour by Indian team which consists of both Indian and British players were in 1924, where the team was led by legendary Indian footballer Gostha Paul . Football teams consisting of entirely Indian players started to tour Australia, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand during the late 1930s . The first international match India played before independence is yet to be verified, but the trace of first international match that India played overseas was against Ceylon in 1933 . It was India's second International tour, where Gostha Paul led the indian side to a victory over the host country with 1 - 0 score . On 4 July, 1936 India played against visiting Chinese team, which was held at Calcutta . The match was a draw 1--1 After the success of several Indian football clubs abroad, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was formed in 1937 . </P> <P> In 1938, India made an official tour to Australia where they played matches against many clubs and the Australian national side too . From 3rd September 1938 at Sydney, India played 5 friendly matches with Australia . At the Sydney match they saw a defeat of 5--3 . Second match was at Brisbane, where the Indians fought back for a draw of 4--4 . In the third match at Newcastle, on 17th September India registered their first win by a margin of 4--1 . But the Australians defeated India in the next two matches held at Sydney and Melbourne with a score line of 5--4 and 3--1 respectively . </P> <P> On their way to 1948 London Olympics, Chinese team again visited India, where they played Mohammedan fc, East Bengal, Mohun Bagan then finally on 17th July 1948, a friendly match held at Kolkata, where they were defeated by the Indian national side by 0 - 1 score . The 1948 London Olympics was India's first major international tournament, where a predominately barefooted Indian team lost 2--1 to France, failing to convert two penalties . The Indian team was greeted and appreciated by the crowd for their sporting manner. "The French had been given a run for their money--and that, too, by the barefooted Indians!", the british media expressed...At a press conference, shortly after, the Indians were asked why they played barefooted . The ever witty then Indian captain Talimeren Ao said, "Well, you see, we play football in India, whereas you play BOOTBALL!" which was applauded by the British . The next day, that comment was splashed in the newspapers of London . Sarangapani Raman scored the only goal for India in that match and thus the first Indian international goal ever in the Olympics . </P> <P> India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents . But the governing body AIFF decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time . Reason shown by AIFF was that there was the cost of travel, although FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses, lack of practice time, team selection issues and valuing Olympics over FIFA World cup . </P>

When did india first participated in olympics football