Indian Female Athletes

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.

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.

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.

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.

Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess player and the current women's world rapid champion. At the age of 15, Humpy became the youngest female chess player to achieve the prestigious Grandmaster title. In 2003, she was honored with India's second-highest sporting honor, the Arjuna Award. In 2007, Koneru Humpy was honored with the Padma Shri Award. 

Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain was born into a poor family in Assam and was initially interested in Muay Thai. The Arjuna Award winner made waves after winning a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She has also won medals at the Asian Championship and the World Championship.

Three-time Olympian Deepika Kumari has dominated the Indian archery scene for quite some time now. Currently ranked no. 1 in the world, she has bagged several medals, including an Asian Championship gold. The daughter of a auto-rickshaw driver, she grew up practicing archery with bamboo bows and arrows.

Apart from being an International Master, Padmini Rout is also a Woman Grandmaster. The Eklavya Award- and Biju Patnaik Sports Award-winning Indian chess player had begun playing the sport at age 9, encouraged by her father. The four-time Indian Women's Champion has also represented India in the Olympics several times.

Soumya Swaminathan is a chess player who has been honored with FIDE titles, such as Woman Grandmaster (WGM) and International Master (IM). In 2010 and 2012, she represented India at the Women's World Championships. Over the course of her career, Soumya Swaminathan has received several prestigious awards, such as the Shiv Chatrapati Award and Pune Gaurav Puruskar. 

Known for her match-winning partnership with Jwala Gutta, Indian badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa was born to a hockey player father but chose badminton over hockey. A 2-time Commonwealth Games and a 4-time South Asian Games champion, she is also a former World Championship bronze winner.

Former Indian athlete Anju Bobby George created history when she became the only Indian to win a World Championship medal in athletics. She excelled in long jump, high jump, relay, and hurdles. The two-time Olympian and Padma Shri winner was born with a single kidney, which she found out in 2001.

Chitrashi Rawat is an Indian model, actress, and field hockey player. She is best known for her portrayal of Komal Chautala in the 2007 sports film Chak De! India. In 2008, she received the Star Screen Award for Best Actress In A Supporting Role. She then went on to play important roles in popular films like Fashion and Luck.

Santhi Soundarajan grew up amid extreme poverty in a remote Tamil Nadu village in India. The daughter of brick-kiln laborers, she eventually stepped into track and field. In spite of winning a silver medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, she was disqualified for failing a sex test.

The president of the Delhi Capital Badminton Association, Ameeta Singh is a former national badminton champion player who later stepped into politics. An MP from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, she represented the INC before joining the BJP. She is also the former wife of murdered badminton ace Syed Modi.

Born in Telangana in India, Nikhat Zareen is a boxing prodigy who has already won an Asian Championship medal before the age of 25, in spite of facing gender stereotypes. She is also an AIBA Junior World Champion and has already bagged endorsement deals with brands such as Adidas.

Initially a software engineer, Indian para-badminton player Manasi Girishchandra Joshi lost one of her legs in a road accident. A BWF Para-Badminton World Championship gold medalist, she is a product of badminton ace Pullela Gopichand’s academy. She became the first Indian athlete to make it to the cover of TIME magazine.

Indian tennis player Ankita Raina is mostly known for her ITF Circuit wins and her speed. She also has two South Asian Games gold medals and an Asian Games bronze medal in her kitty. She is also the fifth female Indian player to achieve a top 200 WTA singles ranking.

The daughter of Indian badminton legend Pullela Gopichand and his former badminton national champion wife, P. V. V. Lakshmi, Gayatri Gopichand has been a South Asian Games team champion. She also became the first female doubles player to enter the All-England Open semi-finals. She also has a Commonwealth Games silver in her kitty.

Anjali Bhagwat is an Indian sport shooter who won four gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. A former world number one in 10-meter air rifle, Bhagwat has participated in three successive Olympics. In the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, she became the first Indian female shooter to win a silver and gold medal in the Air Rifle and Sports-3P events respectively.

Born to a cart-puller in Haryana, Rani Rampal became the youngest player of the Indian squad to have ever participated in the Hockey World Cup. Later, she led the team as its captain and scored an Asia Cup victory after 13 years. The Padma Shri awardee has also coached for SAI.

Vaishali Rameshbabu is an Indian chess player who achieved the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title in 2018. She first achieved recognition after winning the Girls' World Youth Chess Championship for Under-12s and Under-14s. Vaishali Rameshbabu is also known as the older sister of chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.