Kabaddi is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players, originating in ancient India. The objective of the game is for a single player on offense, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but are brought back in for each point scored by their team from a tag or a tackle.
Aparna Popat is a former Indian badminton player. She was India's national champion for a record equaling nine times when she won all the senior national championships between 1997 and 2006.
Divya Singh is former captain of the Indian National Women's Basketball Team. Singh led the Indian women's basketball team at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. She is known for her game skills, leadership qualities, academic strength and personality. She has done sports management at the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, (UD) in the year 2008 to 2010 and worked as a Women's basketball assistant coach for UD. She was assistant coach of the Under 16 Indian Men's basketball team which participated in Vietnam 2011. She was the assistant coach of the Indian Men's team when India won the bronze medal in Lusophony Games in Goa. She was also a part of the Indian National Women's Basketball Team as an assistant coach in the 17th Asian Games Incheon 2014.
Prashanti Singh is a shooting guard for the Indian national women's basketball team. She is first basketball player in India conferred with National Civilian Award Padma Shri in 2019. She has been honoured with the Arjuna Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India in 2017. She has also been conferred with the prestigious Rani Laxmi Bai Bravery Award 2016–17 in the field of sports by Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Sudha Singh is an Indian Olympic athlete in the 3000 metres steeplechase event. A national record holder in the event, she has represented India at international events since 2005. Singh is an Asian Champion in the discipline and has won two gold and four silver medals at varying editions of the Asian Games and the continental championships.
Kabaddi, is a contact sport, native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most popular sports in India, played mainly among people in villages. India has taken part in four Asian Games in kabaddi, and won gold in all of them. Four forms of kabaddi played in India are Amar, Suranjeevi, huttuttoo, and Gaminee. Amar is generally played in Punjab, Haryana, the United States, Canada, and other parts of the world, mostly by Punjabi sportsmen. Suranjeevi is the most played form of kabaddi in India and the world. This is the form used in international matches generally and played in Asian Games. Huttuttoo was played by men in Maharashtra. In Gaminee style, seven players play on each side and a player put out has to remain out until all his team members are out. The team that is successful in outing all the players of the opponent's side secures a point. The game continues until five or seven such points are secured and has no fixed time duration.
Shankarrao Salvi was an Indian Kabaddi player, coach and administrator. He was life president of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India.
Sports in Andhra Pradesh has its own importance, where many sporting personalities were into limelight. The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) undertakes the sports development activities such as construction of stadiums, establishment of sports academies and other sporting related activities. The sports infrastructure have increased tremendously by improving infrastructure in outdoor and Indoor stadiums, play fields, sports academies, sports equipments etc. Traditional sports such as kho kho, kabaddi are played mostly in Andhra Pradesh.Most sports players from Andhra pradesh represent national level competitions and very few international competitions.
Suma Shirur is a former Indian shooter who competed in the 10 metre air rifle event. She is a joint world record holder in the event, having scored the maximum of 400 points in the qualification round, which she achieved at the 2004 Asian Shooting Championships in Kuala Lumpur. In 2003, she was awarded the Arjuna Award by the government of India. She is currently the High Performance Coach of the Indian Jr. Rifle Shooting Team. She is also the coach of 2020 Paralympics women's SH1 10m rifle gold and women's SH1 50m 3-position rifle bronze medalist Avani Lekhara On 30 November of 2022, she was conferred the Dronacharya Award by the 15th President of India, Droupadi Murmu.
Anup Kumar is an Indian former professional Kabaddi player and Kabaddi Coach of PKL Team Puneri Paltan. He was a member of the India national kabaddi team that won Asian gold medals in 2010 and 2014, one South Asian gold medal in 2016 and the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. He was the captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team. He spent five years with U Mumba and later moved to Jaipur Pink Panthers. In 2012, the Government of India conferred the Arjuna Award on him for his achievements in the sport. He is employed as a Deputy Commissioner of Police in his native State of Haryana. On 19 December 2018, he announced his retirement from kabbadi.
Ajay Thakur is an Indian professional Kabaddi player and the former captain of the Indian National Kabaddi Team.He is widely regarded as one of the Greatest Players Of All Time.He was part of the national teams which won 2016 Kabaddi World Cup and gold medal at 2014 Asian Games. He was awarded the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award in 2019.
Mamatha Poojary is an Indian professional international kabaddi player. She is the former captain of the Indian women's Kabaddi team and has been awarded the Rajyotsava Prashasti, the second-highest award of the Government of Karnataka. On 2 September 2014 she was conferred with the Arjuna Award by President Pranab Mukherjee in recognition of her achievements in Kabaddi.
Deep Grace Ekka is an Indian former field hockey player, who represented the India national field hockey team. She has been selected for Arjun award in 2022.
Deepika Thakur is an Indian field hockey player and is currently the most senior and highest capped player of Indian women's Team. She plays as a Defender in the senior team and has represented India over 200 outings and has scored 24 goals.
Manjeet Chhillar is an Indian former professional kabaddi player who currently serves as the assistant coach of Telugu Titans. During his professional career, he played for the Indian national team and won a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games and 2014 Asian Indoor Games in Incheon. He also played for teams in the Pro Kabaddi League including Bengaluru Bulls, Puneri Paltan, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Tamil Thalaivas, and Dabang Delhi. The Government of India conferred the Arjuna Award on him for his achievements in sports. In an exclusive chat with NNIS Sports, Chhillar termed it as a 'dream' to receive the prestigious award. He was also the member of state team of Haryana and is on top of Pro Kabaddi’s all-time leaderboards for tackle points (391), successful tackles (374) and High 5s (25).
Raju Bhavsar is a former Indian kabaddi player. He has played for national kabaddi team and represented in international tournaments for almost eight years.
Sarika Kale is an Indian kho kho player from Maharashtra. She became the captain of the Maharashtra women's state kho kho team in 2010, leading the team to three national championships. Selected for the India women's national kho kho team in 2015, she was named captain of the team before the 2016 South Asian Games. She led the team to victory in the South Asian Games and in the Third Asian Kho-Kho Championship, where she received the match winner award in the final against Bangladesh.
Ashan Kumar Sangwan is a former Indian professional Kabaddi player and Coach of Tamil Thalaivas. Kumar was the Indian captain of the first Asian Games gold medal-winning team.in recognition of his achievements in the sport, he was awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India and Dronacharya Award in 2021. Presently he is the coach of the Indian Kabaddi team.
Snehal Pradeep Shinde is an Indian kabaddi player. She was part of the team that won the gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games. In the final, India beat Chinese Taipei 26–24 on 7 October 2023.
