In our society, women live by various social taboos, stay depressed about their rights, and freedom is still far for many of them. First, they fight with their parents before going out to live their dreams, then there are society’s customs. Lastly, the question of self-confidence, for instance, if they would not able to meet their dreams, then would their parents and society give them the same respect. If we talk about sports women in India, there are many names who have gained name and fame in their respective arenas. Below is the Indian sports women’s list with some of the famous female sports players who marked their presence in several fields, and made the country proud with their outstanding achievements.
Sania Mirza
The Indian women’s tennis sensation Sania Mirza is one of the most popular sports women in India. She was born on November 15, 1986, in Mumbai. She started playing tennis at the age of six at the Nizam club in Hyderabad. She started her practice under CK Bhupati. She played in her first tournament in 1999 in Jakarta. The rise started when Leander Paes and Sania Mirza became a team as the mixed double at Asian Games and claimed bronze model. At the age of 16, she became the first Indian to win the Grand Slam title. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2004, Padma Shri in 2006, and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2015.
Saina Nehwal
Sania Nehwal is an Indian badminton player. She is the first Indian badminton player to claim the number one spot in women’s singles in the world. She was born on March 17, 1990, in Hisar, Haryana. In 2003, she made her international debut in the Indian Satellite tournament and was in the top 16. She was a winner in the Asian Satellite Badminton tournament in consecutive years – 2005 and 2006. She became the first Indian woman to win the Philippines Open in 2006. She became the first Indian to win the Badminton World Federation in 2009. Saina was ranked as the number one player in the world in 2015. She was awarded the Arjuna Award and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2009, Padma Shri in 2010, and Padma Bhushan in 2016.
Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj is the captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team in both Tests and ODIs. She was born on December 3, 1982, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She was selected for the Indian team at the age of 17. In a test match with England, she scored 214 runs and came into the eyes of many. She is the top run-scorer in women’s international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass 6,000 runs in One Day International cricket. In Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017, she scored 7th consecutive half-century thereby making a record for most successive 50s. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2003 and Padma Shri in 2017.
Mary Kom
Mary Kom is an Indian boxer. She was born on March 1, 1983, in Manipur. She started her training with M. Narjit Singh (Manipur State Boxing Coach) at Imphal in 2000. She won the World Boxing championship five times consecutively. She won a bronze medal in the flyweight category of 51kg in the 2013 Asian Games. She is one of the sports women from India who was ranked number 3 in the AIBA World Women’s Ranking Flyweight category in August 2013. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2010 and the Padma Bhushan in 2013.
P. T. Usha
Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha was born on June 27, 1964, in Kerala. She is known as one of the greatest sports women in India. Usha was fondly called the “Payyoli Express” because of her outstanding speed on the track. She won 102 national and international medals and awards throughout her prominent career. She made all sports women proud by winning 13 Gold medals in Asian Championships. She was awarded the Arjuna Award and Padma Shree in 1984.
Manika Batra
Manika Batra is a table tennis player and one of the most well-known Indian sports women. She was born on June 15, 1995, in Delhi. Her interest in table tennis started at the age of four. She is ranked 115 in the world ranking of India International Trade Fair. She is one of those Indian women players who rejected many modelling offers. At the 12th South Asian Games, she won three gold and one silver medal. She is also one of the tallest sports women in India.
Vinesh Phogat
Vinesh Phogat is one of India’s top wrestlers. She was born on August 25, 1994, in Haryana. Mahavir Phogat (the former wrestler) introduced her to wrestling and started training her at an early age. She made her first mark on the international stage at an age of 19 when she won a bronze medal at the Asian Wrestling Championship held in New Delhi in 2013 under 51kg category. In the same year in South Africa, she also won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. She won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2018, she also secured a silver medal at the Asian Wrestling Championship held in Kyrgyzstan.
Arunima Sinha
Arunima Sinha is the first female in the world to have climbed Mount Everest. She is also a former National level Volleyball and Football player. She was born on July 20, 1988, in Uttar Pradesh. She was passionate about sports from an early age and became a national level Volleyball player however one of her legs was cut off because of a train accident. She then decided to become a mountaineer. She started working under the guidance of Bachendri Pal (the first woman who climbed Mount Everest). She reached the highest peak of Mount Everest on May 21, 2013. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2015. She is one of the sports women in India who have achieved success even after many odds in her life.
Harmanpreet Kaur
Harmanpreet Kaur is one of the most prominent sports women in India. She is the captain of the T20 Indian Women’s team. She was born on March 8, 1989, in Punjab. She is an all-rounder and made her ODI debut in 2009 against Pakistan. In the 2017 Women’s World Cup in Derby, she made unbeatable 171 runs from 115 balls that helped India to win the semi-final against Australia. She became ODI captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket team in 2013. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2017.
Dipa Karmakar
Dipa Karmakar is India’s female gymnast. She was born on August 9, 1993, in Tripura. She came into the eyes of the world when she won a bronze medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games thereby becoming the first Indian female gymnast. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, she became the first Indian female gymnast to compete in the Olympics. She stood fourth in Women’s Vault Gymnastics at this event. She became the first Indian gymnast to attain a gold medal at a global event in July 2018. She was awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2016, and Padma Shri in 2017.
Geeta Phogat
Geeta Phogat is the first Indian female wrestler who qualified for the Olympic Games. She was born on December 15, 1988, in Haryana. In 2009, she won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she won the first-ever gold medal for India in women’s wrestling. There has been no looking back after that. Phogat’s family came into the limelight after Amir Khan’s starring movie “Dangal” was launched.
Deepika Kumari
Deepika Kumari is one of India’s best archers. She was born on June 13, 1994, in Ranchi. She came into the limelight in the 2010 Commonwealth games when she won two gold medals in the women’s individual recurve archery event. Deepika is currently number five in the world. In 2012, she attained the number one spot while competing in the World Cup individual stage in Turkey. She was awarded Arjuna Award in 2012 and Padma Shri in 2016.
Anjali Bhagwat
Anjali Bhagwat is an Indian rifle shooter. She was born on December 5, 1969, in Girgaum. She won the 2002 ISSF Champion of Champions combined-air-rifle event and became the first Indian to win that competition. She also won 12 gold and 4 silver medals in the Commonwealth Games. In total, she has 31 gold, 23 silver and 7 bronze medals under her belt. She was awarded Arjuna Award in 2000 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel-Ratna in 2003.
Anju Bobby George
Anju Bobby George is a renowned Indian athlete. She was born on April 19, 1977, in Kerala. At the World Athletics Championship 2003 in Paris, she won the bronze medal. She also won a silver medal at the SAF games held in Nepal and a gold medal at the Busan Asian Games. She was awarded the Arjuna award in 2003 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2004.
Rani Rampal
Rani Rampal is an Indian Women’s Field Hockey player. She was born on December 4, 1994, in Haryana. She played 212 international matches and scored 134 goals. She also won a silver medal in Asian Games held in Jakarta in 2018 and a bronze medal in South Korea in 2014. She is one of the Indian women players who was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2016.
Tania Sachdev
Tania Sachdev is an Indian Chess player. She is the Woman Grandmaster and World Chess Federation International Master. She was born on August 20, 1986, in Delhi. She is the eighth chess player in India who has become the grandmaster. And then after, she won four silver medals in the team event that was held in 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2014.
In 2012, she won a bronze medal at the Women’s Chess Olympiad. She also won individual silver and bronze medals in the same tournament. She attained the best women’s chess player award at Reykjavik Open 2016.
Malavath Purna
Malavath Poorna is the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest. She was born on June 10, 2000, in Telangana. At the age of 13 years, she made a world record in the field of mountaineering. She motivated many sports women in India.
PV. Sindhu
Pusarla V Sindhu is a badminton player of India. She was born on July 5, 1995, in Hyderabad. She became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal in 2016. In 2018, she also won a silver medal in Women’s singles at Commonwealth Games. She also attained a silver medal at the BWF World Championships in 2017 and 2018. She was honoured with Padma Shri Award in 2015, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2016, and Arjuna Award in 2013.
Heena Sidhu
Heena Sidhu is an Indian sports shooter. She was born on August 29, 1989, in Ludhiana. She started her career in 2006. Her first medal came in 2009 at ISSF World Cup in Beijing, where she won a silver medal and followed it with another silver medal at the 2010 Asian Games in the Women’s 10m air pistol team event. She was awarded Arjuna Award in 2014. She won gold and silver medals in Commonwealth Games held in 2018.
Shikha Tandon
Shikha Tandon is a versatile Indian swimmer. She was born on January 12, 1985, in Bangalore. By the Swimming Federation of India, she was selected as the best female swimmer for 3 successive years and the best female swimmer at the Sub-Junior and Junior National Aquatic Championships for 8 successive years. She has a total of 146 national medals, and 36 medals in international competitions, including five gold medals under her belt. In 2001, she received Ekalavya Award from Karnataka Government.
K. M. Beenamol
Kalayathumkuzhi Mathews Beenamol is an international athlete from India. She was born on August 15, 1975, in Kerala. She won a gold medal in the 2002 Asian Games. In 2000, she reached in Olympic semifinals. She was honoured with the Arjuna award in 2000 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2002-03.
Aditi Ashok
Aditi Ashok is an Indian professional golfer. She was born on March 29, 1998, in Bangalore. She started playing at the age of 6 and played her first tournament at an age of 9 in Karnataka Golf Club. She has been a part of major tournaments such as Faldo Series Asia, Asia Pacific Junior Championship, and Southern India Junior. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, she was the youngest contestant to represent India.
The above sports women’s list has inspired us and changed our lives. These great female sports players give us the hope that every girl has the potential to achieve whatever she wants to.
