Merlene Joyce Ottey OJ, CD is a Jamaican-Slovenian former track and field sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica in 1978, and continued to do so for 24 years, before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 2012. She is ranked fourth on the all-time list over 60 metres (indoor), eighth on the all-time list over 100 metres and sixth on the all-time list over 200 metres. She is the current world indoor record holder for 200 metres with 21.87 seconds, set in 1993. She was named Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year 13 times between 1979 and 1995.
Veronica Campbell Brown CD is a retired Jamaican track and field sprinter, who specialized in the 100 and 200 meters. An eight-time Olympic medalist, she is the second of three women in history to win two consecutive Olympic 200 m events, after Bärbel Wöckel of Germany at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and before fellow countrywoman Elaine Thompson-Herah at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Campbell Brown is one of only nine athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.
Anju Bobby George is a retired Indian athlete. Anju Bobby George made history when she won the bronze medal in long jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris. With this achievement, she became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics jumping 6.70 m. She went on to win the gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005, a performance she considers her best. Anju was upgraded to the gold status from silver in the 2005 World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo following the disqualification of Tatyana Kotova of Russia by the International Association of Athletics Federations, following the recent re-testing of the latter's sample collected at the 2005 World Championship in Helsinki. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2002, Khel Ratna in 2003 and Padma Shri in 2004. She had got 5th position with personal best of 6.83 m at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In March 2021, Anju won the BBC lifetime achievement award for best athlete in India.
The 2009 Asian Indoor Games, officially the 3rd Asian Indoor Games and also known as Vietnam 2009, were a pancontinential indoor multi-sport event held in Vietnam from 30 October till 8 November 2009. This was the last edition of the event to be held under the "Asian Indoor Games" name before it was merged with another Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) event – Asian Martial Arts Games to form the larger Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Sport in Pakistan is a significant part of Pakistani culture. Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan, while field hockey, polo, and squash are also popular. Traditional sports like kabaddi and other well-known games are also played. The Pakistan Sports Board was created in 1962 by the Ministry of Education as a corporate body for the purposes of promoting and developing uniform standards of competition in sports in Pakistan comparable to the standards prevailing internationally, and regulating and controlling sports in Pakistan on a national basis. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, now has control over the Pakistan Sports Board. The PSB controls all 39 sporting federations. The Pakistan Sports Board is supported by the Pakistan Sports Trust, which assists hard up players and associations so they can continue participating in sports.
Derval O'Rourke is an Irish former sprint hurdles athlete. She competed internationally in the 60 and 100 metres hurdles, and is the Irish national record holder in both events. She participated in two Indoor World Championships, five Outdoor World Championships and the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Shiny Kurisingal Wilson is a retired Indian athlete. She has been a National Champion in 800 metres for 14 years. Shiny Abraham Wilson represented India more than 75 times in international competition. She holds the added distinction of representing Asia in four World Cups. She is also perhaps the only athlete to have taken part in six Asian Track & Field Meets in a row beginning 1985 in Jakarta. During this period she won seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals in the Asian competitions. She collected a total of 18 gold and two silver medals from the seven South Asian Federation (SAF) Meets she has competed.
Santhi Soundarajan is a track and field athlete from Tamil Nadu, India. She is the winner of 12 international medals for India and around 50 medals for her home state of Tamil Nadu. Shanthi Soundarajan is the first Tamil woman to win a medal at the Asian Games. She competes in middle distance track events. She was stripped of a silver medal won at the 2006 Asian Games after failing a sex verification test which disputed her eligibility to participate in the women's competition.
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.
Olga Tereshkova is a Kazakhstani former sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.
Sports in India refers to the large variety of games played in India, ranging from tribal games to more mainstream sports such as, cricket, football, field hockey, badminton and kabaddi. India's diversity of culture, people, and tribes are reflected in the wide variety of sporting disciplines in the country.
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom is an Indian amateur boxer, politician, and former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. She is the only woman to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship six times, the only female boxer to have won a medal in each one of the first seven World Championships, and the only boxer to win eight World Championship medals. Nicknamed Magnificent Mary, she is the only Indian female boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight (51 kg) category and winning a bronze medal. She had also been ranked as the world's No. 1 female light-flyweight by the International Boxing Association (amateur) (AIBA). She became the first Indian female boxer to win a gold medal in the Asian Games in 2014 at Incheon, South Korea and is the first Indian female boxer to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She is also the only boxer to become Asian Amateur Boxing Champion for a record six times. Mary Kom won the 51kg gold in President's Cup in Indonesia.
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.
Akanksha Singh is an Indian basketball player and captain of the India Women's National Basketball Team. She has played for the national team since 2004. She and her sisters, Divya, Prashanti, and Pratima are known as the "fantastic four" of the Indian women's basketballers, and are also known as the Singh Sisters.
Pinki Pramanik is an Indian track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres and 800 metres. Pramanik had success with the national 4×400 metres relay team, winning silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, gold at the 2006 Asian Games, and gold at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games. She won three gold medals at the 2006 South Asian Games, winning the 400 and 800 m events, as well as the relay.
Pratima Singh is a member of the India women's national basketball team, hailing from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. Pratima Singh was born on 6 February 1990 in the Shivpur area in the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Born in Varanasi, her siblings have also either played or are playing for India- her sisters Divya and Priyanka have represented Indian National Women's Basketball Team, while Prashanti Singh an Arjuna Award and Padma Shri winner is the current captain of the team and Akanksha is a member.
Dutee Chand is an Indian professional sprinter and current national champion in the women's 100 metres event. She is the first Indian to win a gold medal in 100m race in a global competition. She is the third Indian woman to ever qualify for the Women's 100 metres event at the Summer Olympic Games. However, in the 2016 Summer Olympics, her 11.69 s in the preliminary round did not qualify her for the next round. In 2018, Chand clinched silver in women's 100m at the Jakarta Asian Games. It was India's first medal in this event since 1998. In 2019, she became the first Indian sprinter to win gold at the Universiade, clocking 11.32 seconds in the 100 m race.
Pratiksha Santosh Shinde is an Indian athlete that is chosen to compete in the 2009 Asian Indoor Games and the first World Vovinam Championship. In the dual sword form event of the Indoor Games, Shinde and Akanksha Sahai got India a silver medal. It's also Shinde's third silver coming in fights category. She also participated in the 4th World Traditional Wushu Championship in China Shiyan city 2010. In the World Vovinam Championship, she is ranked number 3.
Deepa Malik is an Indian athlete. She started her career at the age of 30. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put. She also won gold in the F-53/54 Javelin event at the para athletic Grand Prix held in Dubai in 2018. She is currently the world number one in the F-53 category. She has won accolades for her participation in various adventure sports. She is associated with Himalayan Motorsports Association (H.M.A.) and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (F.M.S.C.I.). She has undertaken an 8-day, 1,700-km drive in sub-zero temperatures which included a climb to 18,000 feet (5,500 m). It was – Raid De Himalaya. This journey covers many difficult paths including remote Himalayas, Leh, Shimla and Jammu.
India competed at the 2016 Asian Beach Games held in Danang, Vietnam from 24 September to 3 October 2016. The Indian Olympic Association sent a larger contingent than the previous game as 208 athletes participated in 13 different games at the fifth edition of beach games. India finished at 16th position, winning 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 18 Bronze medals.N. Ramachandran, president of Indian Olympic Association, received an OCA Award of Merit by the Olympic Council of Asia for his contributions to sports in Asia at Danang on 25 September 2016.
