Pride of India-INDIAN SPORTS PERSONALITY

Pride of India

1.      VISHWANATHAN ANAND (Chess)

He became India's first Grandmaster in 1988 & the first Indian to win the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000. He has won awards like Arjuna Award, Padma Shri, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and many other honors. He defeated Boris Gelfand in 2012.

2.      P. T. USHA (Athlete)

She became the first Indian women to enter the final of an Olympics event in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She won silver medals in the 100 m and the 200 m events in the 1982 New Delhi Asiad. She won gold in the 400 m in Kuwait and five gold medals at the Asian Meet in Jakarta in 1985.

3.      BAICHUNG BHUTIA (Football)

He is Captain of Indian football team. He has a football stadium named after him in honour of his contribution to Indian football. He has also won the Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri. On 28 October 2010 he started Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools in Delhi.

4.      ASHISH KUMAR (Gymnastic)

Ashish Kumar (born 1986) is an Indian gymnast from Allahabad. He has won India's first-ever medals in gymnastics at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and became the most successful Indian gymnast by winning bronze and silver medals in different gymnastic events.

5.      JAYANT TALUKDAR (Archery)

He made his international debut with the Asian Championship 2003 held at Yangon where the Indian team grabbed a Silver Medal. He also won a Gold Medal at the SAF Games, Colombo. He grabbed the Gold Medal at the FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup tournament in Croatia.

6.      JEEV MILKHA SINGH (Golf)

He is the first Indian golfer to become a member of the European Tour. He is the highest ranked Indian golfer in the world and first broke into the top 100 in October 2006. Singh is the son of athlete Milkha Singh and Nirmal Kaur, former captain of the Indian women's volleyball team.

7.      PANKAJ ARJAN ADVANI (Billiard)

He is the only Indian to have won both the billiards and snooker world titles. He won his first world championship title in 2003 IBSF World Snooker Championship in China. He has won awards like Padma Shri, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and many more honors.

8.      DHYAN CHAND (Hockey)

Major Dhyan Chand won 3 gold medals in Olympic Games. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1956. In 1936 Berlin Olympics, he was honoured with 'Olive Crown' and in the 1968 Mexico Olympics as 'Distinguished Guest'. He died on 3rd December 1979.

9.      DHANRAJ PILLAY (Hockey)

Dhanraj Pillay is former captain of the Indian hockey team.  He scored around 170 goals in his career. He is the only player to have played in four Olympics (1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. He is recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for the year 1999-2000.

10.  KAPIL DEV (Cricket)

Kapil Dev captained India to World Cup victory in 1983. He broke Richard Hadlee's record of 431 wickets in Test cricket. He is the only Indian to score first ODI century. He scored 4,000 Test runs and took 400 wickets. He was named Indian Cricketer of the Century by Wisden in 2000.

11.  SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR (Cricket)

Tendulkar is the first cricketer to make 10,000 runs in ODIs, highest individual score by an Indian (200 not out) and most ‘Man of the Match’ awards in ODIs. He has won a number of awards.  He holds the title “God of Cricket” among his fans. He is the first Indian sports person to receive Bharat Ratna Award in 2014.

12.  ABHINAV BINDRA (Shooting)

He is the first ever Indian to win an individual Gold Medal since 1900 in air riffle event. He received the Arjuna Award at the young age of 17 and has been the youngest recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards at 18 years. He received the Padma Bhushan in 2009. He also won gold medal in 2014 Commonwealth games at Glasgow.

13. VIJAY KUMAR (Shooting)

Vijay Kumar is an Indian sports shooter who is serving as ‘Subedar Major’ in the Indian Army. He has won an Olympic Silver medal in 2012 London Olympics. He has also won 5 gold medals and one silver medal in Commonwealth games. He received the Arjuna Award in 2007.

14.  GAGAN NARANG (Shooting)

Gagan Narang is an Indian sports shooter who won an Olympic bronze in the 2012 London Olympics. He has a medal tally of 8 Gold medals in the Commonwealth games. He was conferred with the Padma Shree Award in 2010 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2011.

15.  RONJAN SODHI (Shooting)

Ronjan Sodhi is an Indian trap shooter. He won two silver medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games. He is the recipient of the Arjuna Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2013.

16.  SUSHIL KUMAR SOLANKI (Wrestling)

He is an Indian World Champion wrestler who won the gold medal in the 66 kg freestyle competition at the FILA 2010 World Wrestling Championships. He won bronze medal in Beijing Olympics in 2008. HHhe has won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Award.

17.  YOGESHWAR DUTT (Wrestling)

He made India proud by clinching a Bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics. He has won Gold medals in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010 Commonwealth wrestling championship. He had also won a bronze 2006 Asian games. He has been awarded with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

18.  MARY KOM (Boxing)

Mary Kom is India’s most famous woman pugilist (boxer). She had won a bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics. She won Gold medals in Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in 2003, 2005, 2010 and 2012. She has won the Arjuna Award (2003) and Padma Shree (2006).

19.  VIJENDER SINGH BENIWAL (Boxing)

He is an Indian boxer from Haryana. At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, he won a bronze medal—the first ever Olympic medal for an Indian boxer.  He got Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. In 2009, he won the Bronze medal at the World Amateur Boxing Championships.

20.  LEANDER PAES (Lawn Tennis)

He won the Wimbledon junior title in 1990 and the junior US open title in 1991. He has won many doubles Grand Slam titles and some mixed doubles title as well. He won the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

21.  SANIA MIRZA (Lawn Tennis)

She is the first ever Indian to break into the top 30 WTA rankings. In 2004, she was bestowed with the Arjuna Award and in 2006 Padma Shri Award. In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud".

22.  PULLELA GOPICHAND (Badminton)

He is a former Indian badminton player. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001 becoming the second Indian to achieve this feat after Prakash Padukone. Currently, he runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy

23.  SAINA NEHWAL (Badminton)

She is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarter finals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. She became the first Indian to win the Indonesia Open in Jakarta. She has won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

24.  PARUPALLI  KASHYAP (Badminton)

He is a badminton player from India. He trains at Gopichand Badminton Academy . He was conferred with the Arjuna Award by Government of India in 2012. At the 2014 Glasgow, he won the gold medal in men's singles.

25.  JOSHNA CHINAPPA (Squash)

Joshna was the first Indian to win the British Squash Championship title in 2003 in the under 19 category and was also the youngest Indian women's national champion. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games she along with Dipika Pallikal won the squash women’s doubles gold medal, making it India's first ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport.

26.  DIPIKA PALLIKAL (Squash)

She is the first Indian woman to break into the top 10 in the WSA rankings. She won 3 WISPA tour titles in 2011 that saw her attain a career best ranking of 13. In the 20th Commonwealth Games held in 2014, Dipika won gold in the squash women's doubles event along with Joshna Chinappa. It is the country’s first squash medal, at Glasgow.