Firstly let me tell everyone that this list will be featured with sportspersons who are not into Cricket as I want to celebrate other sports as much as Cricket and there have been many exceptional sports people who have represented India in various sports over the years. These elite athletes from various sports have done India proud at the Olympics and other international events. This list is my Top 5 and I would love to know your Top 5 as well and let’s have a discussion.
Before we get into the list I want to tell that this is one of the most excited I have been in writing the articles because I get to talk about some elite athletes from various sports and most of them are from recent years which also tells us how sports has seen a boom in the nation in the past decade plus. So, let’s get to the list.
Neeraj Chopra – Javelin Throw
This list would be incompetent without mentioning this name and yes there is recency bias but what this man achieved last year at Tokyo puts him in this list. In the 125 years of Olympics Neeraj Chopra is the only Indian track and field athlete to win an Olympic Gold Medal. He did it by throwing 87.58 meters and created history. Not only that he has also won the Gold At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2018 Asian Games, World U20 Championships in 2016 and most recently the Silver Medal at the World Athletics Championships. He is just 24 and he can achieve so much more in a decade more of his career.
PV Sindhu – Badminton
This list would not be complete without mentioning the great PV Sindhu because she is the greatest Olympian that India has ever seen and she is also one of my most favorite athletes to watch play and dominate opponents. She has done everything in Badminton, Silver Medal at Rio Olympics in 2016, Bronze Medal at Tokyo Olympics 2020. She has also won the whole set of 3 Medals at the Commonwealth Games, The World Championships, Silver and Bronze at the Asian Games,Uber Cup Medals. She is only 27 years and she has at least 7-8 years left at the top and nobody knows what heights she will reach. Gold in Paris 2024 will be the icing on the cake.
Abhinav Bindra – Shooting
The Original, The trend setter and the first individual Gold Medalist for India in the history of the Olympics. Abhinav Bindra did something that no other single Indian before him had done in history and that is win an individual Gold Medal at the Olympics. He did it in Beijing 2008 and from that day Indian sports changed forever. He has also won Gold Medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games and shooting became a popular sport in India because of his efforts.
Sushil Kumar – Wrestling
No matter what he may have done later on in his life it cannot take away from the fact that Sushil Kumar was the first Indian athlete to win 2 Individual Medals at the Olympics and that alone makes him worthy of being on this list. He is the only male athlete to do so and only PV Sindhu has matched his achievement in badminton. Sushil Kumar was the pride of India and he won Gold Medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games in multiple editions of these Games. I wish Sushil Kumar had not committed the crime that he did but his wrestling legacy lives on.
Vishwanathan Anand – Chess
The fifth person and certainly an all time legend in his sport and that person is none other than Vishwanathan Anand and Chess. Recently India held the 44th Chess Olympiad and it was only possible due to the achievements of the great Vishwanathan Anand. He broke the dominance of the Russians in 2000 when he won the World Championship and gave India the platform in which we could build the future chess stars. He was the first Grandmaster for India and 22 years later we have added 74 more Grandmasters and we have become one of the best chess playing nations.
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