Pullela Gopichand is an Indian former badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the India national badminton team. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second Indian to achieve this feat after Prakash Padukone. He runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy. He received the Arjuna Award in 1999, the Khel Ratna Award in 2001, the Dronacharya Award in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – in 2014. He is the only Indian coach to win the "Honorable Mention" by the International Olympic Committee at the 2019 Coaches Lifetime Achievement Awards.
India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete Norman Pritchard winning two medals – both silver – in athletics and became the first Asian nation to win an Olympic medal.
India was represented at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne by a 270-member strong contingent comprising 183 sportspersons and 77 officials. 2004 Summer Olympics silver medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was the flag bearer for India.
Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman. He is the first and one of only two Indians to win an Individual Olympic Gold Medal. He is the first Indian to have held concurrently the world and Olympic titles for the men's 10-meter air rifle event, having earned those honors at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships. Bindra has also won seven medals at the Commonwealth Games and three medals at the Asian Games.
Mittal Champions Trust was a trust which supported Indian athletes with world-beating potential. It was funded by Lakshmi Mittal and was initiated by his son-in-law Amit Bhatia.
India competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. A total of 83 athletes, 60 men and 23 women, competed in 13 sports. Men's field hockey was the only team-based sport in which India was represented in these Olympic Games. India also marked its Olympic return in weightlifting, after the International Weightlifting Federation imposed a two-year suspension for the nation's athletes because of a doping scandal in Beijing.
Prasana Karmakar is an Indian Para swimmer. He won 2 Bronze medals in 2014 Incheon Asian Games. He is also known for representing India as the swimming team coach for 2016 RIO Paralympic games.
Sharath M. Gayakwad is an Indian Paralympic swimmer from Bangalore. At the 2014 Asian Games, he broke P.T. Usha's record for most number of medals by an Indian at any multi-discipline Event by winning 6 medals. Coming from a modest financial background, he has over 30 international and 40 national medals to his credit, one of them being the bronze medal at the 2010 Asian Para Games. He is the first Indian swimmer to qualify for the Paralympics and competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
The Kalinga Stadium is a multi-purpose international sports complex in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Its foundation stone was laid by the former chief minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik in 1978. It is best known as the home ground of the Indian Super League club Odisha FC since its inception in 2019. It was the home ground of the I-League club Indian Arrows from 2018 until 2022. It is situated in the heart of Bhubaneswar near Nayapalli area. It has facilities for athletics, football, field hockey, tennis, table tennis, basketball, volleyball, wall climbing and swimming. Other features of the stadium includes an 8-lane synthetic athletics track, high performance centres, and India's first Olympic standard pink and blue water-based AstroTurf.
India competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1920, although they made their official debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Sports is an important part of the culture of Odisha and plays a key role in development of the state. Field hockey, athletics, association football, cricket, weightlifting, rugby union and rugby sevens are among the most popular sports in the Indian state of Odisha. Odisha is also known as the Sports Capital of India. The Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack are among the major stadiums in the state.
Varun Singh Bhati is a para high jumper from India. He was afflicted by poliomyelitis at a young age, and joined sports during his school days. He has won several medals in international events including bronze at 2016 Summer Paralympic Games and 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj is an Arjuna awardee Indian professional Para-Badminton player currently ranked world No.1 in men's singles and silver medalist in SL-4 category in Tokyo Paralympics 2021. Suhas is also an IAS officer of the 2007 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre, he has also served as District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar & Prayagraj. He became National Champion after winning gold medal in Men's Singles category at second National Para Badminton Championships held at Varanasi in March 2018. He is also an engineer who graduated from National Institute of Technology. He is the only IAS officer in India to win a Paralympic medal and an Arjuna Award.
Swapna Barman is an Indian heptathlete. She won the gold medal at 2018 Asian Games and placed first in the Heptathlon at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships. In August 2019, she was honoured with the Arjuna Award. In 2022, she took gold medals in the high jump and the heptathlon at the National Games of India.
Champions of Change (COC) is an Indian award for promoting Indian values like community service, social development, healthcare, education and national unity, selected by constitutional jury members headed by K. G. Balakrishnan, the Former Chief Justice of India and Former Chairman NHRC and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India. The awards are organised annually and usually presented by the President of India, Vice President of India, former President of India, former Vice president of India or any leading political figure of India.
Sumit Antil is an Indian paralympian and javelin thrower. He won gold medals in men's javelin throw F64 category at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. He holds the current world record, having thrown 73.29 meters at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou.
India competed at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, which began on 23 September 2023 and ended on 8 October 2023. The event was scheduled to be held in September 2022 but was postponed due to the rising COVID-19 cases in China. The event was later rescheduled to be held in September–October 2023.
India is scheduled to compete at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France from 8 to 17 July 2023
Nimisha Suresh Chakkungalparambil is an Indian para-athlete from Kerala. She competes in the women's T47 long jump event. and women's T47 long jump events. She was selected for the Indian team that took part in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games. She won the T47 long jump gold medal on 25 October 2023.
Lalitha Killaka is a para athlete from Andhra Pradesh. She was part of the Indian team at the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China. She won a silver medal finishing second behind Rakhitha Raju in the women 1500m T11 on 25 October 2023.
