Famous Indian Sportspersons

Counted amongst world’s best batsmen, Virat Kohli is the former captain of Indian national cricket team. Under his captaincy, Indian cricket rose to great heights and he is the most successful Indian Test captain till date. He shot to fame when he led India’s Under-19 team to victory at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. Since then, Virat Kohli has proved his talent in all forms of the game.

Former Indian international cricketer M. S. Dhoni captained the Indian national team from 2007 to 2016. He played as a right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper. With more than 10,000 runs scored, he is one of the highest run-scorers in One Day Internationals (ODIs). He also became the first wicket-keeper to effect 100 stumpings in ODI cricket.

Often referred to as the God of Cricket in India, Sachin Tendulkar is a retired cricketer. Also known for his humility on and off the field, Sachin is one of the most revered, celebrated, and decorated cricketers. Considered one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Sachin Tendulkar played a key role in turning India into a cricket-frenzy nation.

P. V. Sindhu is an Indian badminton player. In 2016, she won the Olympic silver medal in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Indian woman to receive an Olympic silver. Sindhu became a national icon following her performance in the 2016 Olympics. In January 2020, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award.

Shikhar Dhawan is an Indian cricket player and one of the most important members of the current Indian cricket team. Known for his successful innings in ICC Tournaments, Dhawan helped India win their second ICC Champions Trophy, in 2013; he was the highest run-scorer in the tournament. He has also been an important player in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Nicknamed The Wall for his resilient batting in Test cricket, Rahul Dravid was known for his unmatched concentration. He was selected for the Indian cricket squad while pursuing his MBA. Apart from winning the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, he has also been named to the ICC Hall of Fame.

One of the best all-rounders of the Indian cricket team, Ravichandran Ashwin is best known for popularizing the soduku ball technique. He is also the only bowler apart from Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis to bowl the carrom ball. The Arjuna Award winner is the son of a Chennai-based cricketer.

Known for his aggressive batting, Indian middle-order batsman Suresh Raina is also a phenomenal fielder. He was part of India’s 2011 World Cup squad and became the first Indian cricketer with a century in all forms of international cricket. He retired in 2020 but will continue to play IPL matches.

Known as The Magician of field hockey, Dhyan Chand, one of the greatest hockey players from India, is remembered for his three Olympic gold medals and for his ability to control the ball. The Padma Bhushan awardee initially loved wrestling but deviated to hockey after joining the army.

Leander Paes is an Indian tennis player who has the most doubles wins in the history of Davis Cup. With 10 mixed doubles and eight doubles Grand Slam titles under his belt, Paes is one of the most successful Indian tennis players of all time. Paes is the recipient of India's highest sporting honor, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Harbhajan Singh is an Indian professional cricket player. He was part of Indian cricket teams which won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Renowned for his aggressive persona and style of play, Harbhajan Singh is considered one of the greatest Indian off-spin bowlers of all time. In 2009, he was honored with the Padma Shri award. 

Born to a flour mill owner, Virender Sehwag convinced his family to let him learn cricket since he wasn’t good in academics. He later grew up to be an aggressive batsman, breaking many records. He’s one of two people with a double hundred in ODI and a triple hundred in Test cricket.

Sandeep Singh is an Indian field hockey player who led the Indian team in the 2009 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup where his team defeated Malaysia in the finals. Singh also helped his team win a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He was honored with the prestigious Arjuna Award in 2010. His life inspired the 2018 biographical film Soorma.

Arjuna Award- and Padma Shri-winning Indian badminton player and former world number 1, Prakash Padukone was the first to win the All-England Open Badminton Championship from India. A World Cup and Commonwealth Games champion, he co-owns Olympic Gold Quest. He is also known as Bollywood star Deepika Padukone’s father.

Indian javelin sensation Neeraj Chopra created history by becoming the second Indian individual Olympic gold medalist and the first from the track-and-field category. Once an obese kid, he took up sports to lose weight. Now a glamor icon, too, he has bagged several modeling offers and a Vogue cover, too.

The second Indian badminton player to win the All-England Open Badminton Championships, Indian badminton star Pullela Gopichand now coaches the Indian national team. He was 11 when he began playing the sport. An Asian Championship bronze winner, he has been awarded countless honors, such as the Arjuna Award and the Padma Bhushan.

Indian right-handed batsman Rohit Sharma is also the vice-captain in the limited-overs format. One of the few cricketers to score a century in all three formats, he is also the first player with two ODI double centuries. He is WWF-India’a Rhino Ambassador and works for PETA’s campaigns for street animals.

Viswanathan Anand is an Indian chess player and former world champion. The first grandmaster from India, Anand is also one of the few chess players to have gone past an Elo rating of 2800, only the fourth player in history to do so. Renowned for his quick moves, Anand is widely regarded as the greatest rapid player of our time.

Considered India's most successful Test captain, legendary cricketer Sourav Ganguly, nicknamed Maharaj, was also arguably one of the best one-day batsmen of his time. Also known as the God of the Off Side, he now heads the BCCI as its president. He was initially also a talented footballer.

Sunil Gavaskar is an Indian former professional cricket player who represented the national team during the 1970s and 1980s. Considered one of the greatest batsmen in Test cricket history, Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman to score over 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He also set many world records and held the record for most Test centuries for nearly 20 years.

An impressive doubles tennis player, Sania Mirza has six Grand Slam titles under her belt. A former doubles world No. 1, Sania Mirza is one of the greatest Indian female  tennis players ever. In 2005, Sania Mirza was named in Time magazine's 50 Heroes of Asia list. In 2016, she was named in the magazine's 100 most influential people in the world list.

A former world no.1, Saina Nehwal holds the feat of being the only Indian female player and overall the second Indian player to achieve this ranking. She is the first Indian female to have bagged in an Olympic medal in badminton. She was also awarded India's third highest civillian award, the Padma Bhushan.

Yuvraj Singh is an Indian retired cricket player who was noted for his exceptional fielding abilities and aggressive stroke play. Considered one of India's greatest limited-overs players, Yuvraj Singh helped India win the 2011 World Cup with his all-round abilities. He also serves as an inspiration to cancer patients as he fought cancer amidst his career and made his international comeback.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was an Indian cricket player. Entrusted with the responsibility of captaining the Indian cricket team, at the age of 21, Pataudi went on to become one of the greatest Indian cricket captains of all time. Also known for his fielding abilities, he was described by many as the best fielder in the world during his playing career.

Jasprit Bumrah is an Indian international cricketer who plays in all formats of the game for the Indian national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, he began his career playing first-class cricket and gained international attention after playing brilliantly on his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut. He is considered one of the fastest Indian bowlers of all time. 

Tania Sachdev is an Indian chess player who has been honored with such FIDE titles as Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and International Master (IM). Since 2008, Sachdev has represented India at the Women's Chess Olympiads as part of the Indian national team. In 2009, she was honored with the prestigious Arjuna Award for her contribution to chess in India.

Indian track and field legend Milkha Singh, also known as "The Flying Sikh,” was orphaned during the Partition of India. The former army man won four Asian Games gold medals. He also competed in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Summer Olympics, finishing fourth in the 400-meter event in 1960.

Gukesh D is an Indian chess player who became the third-youngest player in history to qualify for the Grandmaster title, which was awarded to him by FIDE in March 2019. At the Asian Youth Chess Championships in 2018, Gukesh won five gold medals in different formats.

A 2-time Olympian, Indian badminton star Jwala Gutta was born to a Chinese mother and an Indian father and began training under Padma Shri-winning coach S. M. Arif at age 6. She is an 8-time South Asian Games gold medalist and a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner.

Considered one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced, P. T. Usha is often called the Queen of Indian track and field. She has won 14 gold medals throughout her illustrious career. She missed out on the bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by a hundredth of a second.

Indian star boxer Vijender Singh has won several medals for his country, including a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The son of a bus driver, he had started training in boxing to improve his family’s financial condition. He had an unbeaten run till he eventually lost to Russia’s Artysh Lopsan in 2021.