Playing sports not only entertains us but also keeps us physically and mentally fit. It is fair participating in any sport teaches us a healthy lifestyle. This is the reason why central and state government in India gives a lot of emphasis to sports. This is resulting in great performances of Indian sport persons at various world-level tournaments. Indian sports persons and athletes have made the tricolor rise at many important sporting events including Olympics.
A few GK questions in almost every competitive exam are asked from Famous Sports Personalities of India. In today’s post, we are sharing a list of top Indian Sports personalities and Athletes 2024.
Top Sports Persons of India 2024
Let’s go through the list of some top Indian sportsperson that have made the country proud with their inspiring performance. Here is the list of famous sports personalities of India:
Athletics
- Discuss Throwers – Akash Antil, Parduman Singh Brar, Vikas Gowda, Ranjith Kumar Jayaseelan, Yogesh Kathuniya, Anil Kumar, Praveen Kumar Sobti, Amit Kumar Saroha, Balkar Singh, Makhan Singh, Shakti Singh, Vinod Kumar
- Javelin Throwers – Sumit Antil, Rajesh Bind, Jagdish Bishnoi, Sandeep Chaudhary, Neeraj Chopra, Devendra Jhajharia, Davinder Singh Kang, Vipin Kasana, Jahangir Khan, Kashinath Naik, Narender Ranbir, Rinku, Ravinder Singh Khaira, Anil Singh, Gurtej Singh, Parsa Singh, Shivpal Singh, Ajeet Singh Yadav,
- Hammer Throwers – Praveen Kumar Sobti, Nat Singh Somnath, Jagdev Singh Waraich, Rakesh Kumar Yadav
- Long Jumpers – Suresh Babu, Sammudi Balasubramaniam, Vijay Singh Chauhan, Ram Mehar, Kumaravel Premkumar, Sanjay Kumar Rai, B. V. Satyanarayan, Ankit Sharma, Amritpal Singh, Baldev Singh, Dalip Singh, Virsa Singh, M. Sreeshankar, T. C. Yohannan
- Male Hurdlers Runners – Joseph Abraham, Sri Chand Ram, S. Abdul Hamid, M. P. Jabir, Cheruvari Lakshmanan, K. Krishna Mohan, Amrit Pal, Norman Pritchard, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, Bharatinder Singh, Jagdev Singh, Jagmohan Singh, Sarwan Singh, Satinder Singh, Siddhanth Thingalaya, Jim Vickers
- High Jumpers – Suresh Babu, Varun Singh Bhati, Vijay Singh Chauhan, Nikhil Chittarasu, Sharad Kumar, Nishad Kumar, Praveen Kumar (Para athlete), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, Hari Shankar Roy, Tejaswin Shankar, Ajit Singh Balla, Bhim Singh (athlete), Gurnam Singh (high jumper), Mehnga Singh, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Jithin Thomas
Hockey
Here are some top Hockey players from India.
- Dhyan Chand
- Udham Singh
- Leslie Claudius
- Mohammed Shahid
- Balbir Singh Sr.
- Dhanraj Pillay
- Rupinder Pal Singh
- Manpreet Singh
- PR Sreejesh
- Ajit Pal Singh
- Mandeep Singh
- Roop Singh
- KD Singh
- Harmanpreet Singh
- Birendra Lakra
- Sardar Singh
Cricket
The list of famous Indian Cricketers is given below.
- Sachin Tendulkar
- MS Dhoni
- Rahul Dravid
- Anil Kumble
- Kapil Dev
- Sourav Ganguly
- Virendra Sehwag
- Virat Kohli
- Yuvraj Singh
- Sunil Gavaskar
- Harbhajan Singh
- Zaheer Khan
- Rohit Sharma
- Ravichandran Ashwin
- Ravindra Jadeja
Football
The top football players list from India is given below.
- Sunil Chhetri
- Bhaichung Bhutia
- Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
- Sandesh jhingan
- Jeje Lalpekhlua
- I.M Vijayan
- Pradip Kumar Banerjee
- Subrata Pal
- Chuni Goswami
- Peter Thangaraj
- Udanta Singh
- Anirudh Thapa
Badminton
Here is the list of famous badminton players in India.
- Saina Nehwal
- PV Sindhu
- Pullela Gopichand
- Prakash Padukone
- Srikanth Kidambi
- Jwala Gutta
- Parupalli Kashyap
- Ashwini Ponnapa
- B. Sai. Praneeth
- Chetan Anand
Kabaddi
The top kabaddi players list from India is given below.
- Ajay Thakur
- Pardeep Narwal
- Anup Kumar
- Rahul Chaudhari
- Deepka Niwas Hooda
- Manjeet Chillar
- Rakesh Kumar
- Sandeep Narwal
- Rohit Kumar
Top Indian Sports women – Check List of Female sports personalities in India
These days, Women’s participation in sports in India is encouraged. That’s why our country is creating some famous women athletes. A few of the notable names along with their sports are given below.
- Anjali Bhagwat – Shooting – Winner of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Awardee
- Anju Bobby George – Long Jump
- Apurvi Chandela – Air rifle shooting
- Anisa Sayyed – Shooting
- Anjum Chopra – Cricket – Arjuna Awardee
- Anuradha Biswal – Track and field
- Aparna Popat – Badminton – Arjuna Awardee
- Asha Agarwal – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Ashwini Ponnappa – Badminton – Arjuna Awardee
- Ashwini Nachappa
- Bobby Aloysius – Track and field
- Beenamol – Track and field – Conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Bula Choudhury – Swimming – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Chekrovolu Swuro – Archery – Arjuna Awardee
- Chhanda Gayen – Mountaineering – first Bengali woman to climb Mount Everest
- Dipa Karmakar – Gymnastics – Came fourth in the 2016 Rio Olympics – Winner of Khel Ratna Award
- Babitha Kumari Phogat – Wrestling
- Deepika Kumari – Archery – Arjuna Awardee
- Deepika Thakur – Hockey – Arjuna Awardee
- Dola Banerjee – Archery – Arjuna Awardee
- Divya Singh – Basketball
- Dronavalli Harika – Chess – Arjuna Awardee
- Dutee Chand – Track and Field
- Esha Singh – Shooting sports
- Geeta Zutshi – Track and field – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Geeta Phogat – Wrestling
- Geetika Jakhar – Wrestling – Arjuna Awardee
- Joshna Chinappa – Squash
- Harwant Kaur – Track and field
- Hima Das – Track and field
- Jyotirmoyee Sikdar – Track and field – Conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Jhulan Goswami – Cricket – Arjuna Awardee
- Jwala Gutta – Badminton – Arjuna Awardee
- Kamaljeet Sandhu – Track and field – Conferred with Padma Shri
- Kavita Chahal – Boxing – Arjuna Awardee
- Kavita Raut – Track and field
- Koneru Humpy – Chess – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Karnam Malleswari – Weightlifting – Conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – Padma Shri – Arjuna Award – bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney lifting 110 kg.
- Kunjarani Devi – Weightlifting – Conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – Arjuna Award.
- Krishna Poonia – Track and field
- Krushnaa Patil – Mountaineering
- Mary D’Souza Sequeira – winner of Dyan Chand Award in 2013
- Mary Kom – Women’s boxing – Conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- M D Valsamma – Track and field – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Prajusha Maliakkal – Track and field
- Manjeet Kaur – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Madhumita Bisht – Badminton – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Mithali Raj – Cricket – Arjuna Awardee
- Neelam Jaswant Singh – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Neetu Chandra – Taekwondo – First Indian actress to compete in two international games
- Neha Aggarwal – Table tennis
- Nisha Millet – Swimming – Arjuna Awardee
- Prashanti Singh – Basketball – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award
- P. V. Sindhu – Badminton – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award
- Pinki Pramanik – Track and field
- Poulomi Ghatak – Table Tennis – Arjuna Awardee
- Pragnya Mohan – Triathlon
- Pritam Rani Siwach – Hockey – Arjuna Awardee
- Rahi Sarnobat – Shooting
- Manu Bhaker – Shooting
- Reeth Abraham – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Tayabun Nisha – Track and field.
- Renubala Chanu – Weightlifting
- Razia Sheikh – Track and field
- Santhi Soundarajan – Track and field – Winner of 11 International Medals for India and 50 for her home state Tamil Nadu.
- Saina Nehwal – Badminton – Conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Sakshi Malik – Wrestling – Won bronze medal at Rio Olympics 2016.
- Sania Mirza – Tennis – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Sandhya Agarwal – Cricket – Arjuna Awardee
- Sarjubala Devi – Boxer – 2011 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships gold medalist.
- Sonam Malik – Wrestling
- Shikha Tandon – Swimming – Arjuna Awardee
- Shiny Abraham – Track and field – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- J. J. Shobha – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Seema Antil – Track and field
- Soma Biswas – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Stephie D’Souza – Track and field – Arjuna Awardee
- Sumitra Nayak – Rugby
- Sunita Rani – Track and field – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi – Chess – Arjuna Awardee
- P. T. Usha – Track and field – Conferred with Padma Shri – Arjuna Award.
- Tania Sachdev – Chess – Arjuna Awardee
Olympics Medal Winners from India
India has won 35 medals across 24 Olympic Games – including golds, silvers and bronze. Here is the complete list.
Also Check: Tokyo Olympics Quiz
- Norman Pritchard – silver medal – men’s 200m hurdles – Paris 1900 (He was a British-Indian athlete)
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Amsterdam 1928
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Los Angeles 1932
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Berlin 1936
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – London 1948
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Helsinki 1952
- KD Jadhav, bronze medal – men’s bantamweight wrestling – Helsinki 1952
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Melbourne 1956
- Indian hockey men’s team – Silver medal – Rome 1960
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Tokyo 1964
- Indian hockey men’s team – Bronze medal – Mexico City 1968
- Indian hockey men’s team – Bronze medal – Mexico City 1968
- Indian hockey men’s team – Gold medal – Moscow 1980
- Leander Paes, bronze medal – men’s singles tennis – Atlanta 1996
- Karnam Malleswari, bronze medal – women’s 54kg weightlifting – Sydney 2000
- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, silver medal – men’s double trap shooting – Athens 2004
- Abhinav Bindra, Gold medal – men’s 10m air rifle shooting – Beijing 2008
- Vijender Singh, bronze medal – men’s middleweight boxing – Beijing 2008
- Sushil Kumar, bronze medal – men’s 66kg wrestling – Beijing 2008
- Gagan Narang, bronze medal – men’s 10m air rifle shooting – London 2012
- Sushil Kumar, silver medal – men’s 66kg wrestling – London 2012
- Vijay Kumar, silver medal – men’s 25m rapid pistol shooting – London 2012
- Mary Kom, bronze medal – women’s flyweight boxing – London 2012
- Yogeshwar Dutt, bronze medal – men’s 60kg wrestling – London 2012
- Saina Nehwal, bronze medal – women’s singles badminton – London 2012
- PV Sindhu, silver medal – women’s singles badminton – Rio 2016
- Sakshi Malik, bronze medal – women’s 58kg wrestling – Rio 2016
- Mirabai Chanu, silver medal – women’s 49kg weightlifting – Tokyo 2020
- Lovlina Borgohain, bronze medal – women’s welterweight (64-69kg) – Tokyo 2020
- PV Sindhu, bronze medal – women’s singles badminton – Tokyo 2020
- Ravi Kumar Dahiya, silver medal – men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling – Tokyo 2020
- Indian hockey team, bronze medal – men’s hockey – Tokyo 2020
- Bajrang Punia, bronze medal – men’s 65kg wrestling – Tokyo 2020
- Neeraj Chopra – Gold medal – men’s javelin throw
List of Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award Winners
Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting honor in India. Here is the list of sports personalities who have won this prestigious award.
- Viswanathan Anand – Chess
- Geet Sethi – Billiards
- Homi Motivala – Yachting (Team event)
- Pushpendra Kumar Garg – Yachting (Team event)
- Karnam Malleswari – Weightlifting
- Nameirakpam Kunjarani – Weightlifting
- Leander Paes – Tennis
- Sachin Tendulkar – Cricket
- Jyotirmoyee Sikdar – Athletics
- Dhanraj Pillay – Hockey
- Pullela Gopichand – Badminton
- Abhinav Bindra – Shooting
- K. M. Beenamol – Athletics
- Anjali Bhagwat – Shooting
- Anju Bobby George – Athletics
- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore – Shooting
- Pankaj Advani – Billiards and Snooker
- Manavjit Singh Sandhu – Shooting
- Mahendra Singh Dhoni – Cricket
- Mary Kom – Boxing
- Vijender Singh – Boxing
- Sushil Kumar – Freestyle wrestling
- Saina Nehwal – Badminton
- Gagan Narang – Shooting
- Vijay Kumar – Shooting
- Yogeshwar Dutt – Freestyle wrestling
- Ronjan Sodhi – Shooting
- Sania Mirza – Tennis
- P. V. Sindhu – Badminton
- Dipa Karmakar – Gymnastics
- Jitu Rai – Shooting
- Sakshi Malik – Freestyle wrestling
- Devendra Jhajharia – Paralympic javelin
- Sardara Singh – Hockey
- Saikhom Mirabai Chanu – Weightlifting
- Virat Kohli – Cricket
- Deepa Malik – Paralympic (shot put, javelin, others)
- Bajrang Punia – Freestyle wrestling
- Rohit Sharma – Cricket
- Mariyappan Thangavelu – Paralympic high jump
- Manika Batra – Table tennis
- Vinesh Phogat – Freestyle wrestling
- Rani Rampal – Hockey
- Neeraj Chopra – Athletics
- Ravi Kumar Dahiya – Freestyle wrestling
- Lovlina Borgohain – Boxing
- P. R. Sreejesh – Hockey
- Avani Lekhara – Paralympic shooting
- Sumit Antil – Para-athletics
- Pramod Bhagat – Para-badminton
- Krishna Nagar – Para-badminton
- Manish Narwal – Paralympic shooting
- Mithali Raj – Cricket
- Sunil Chhetri – Football
- Manpreet Singh – Hockey
