A Divya Desam or Vaishnava Divya Desam is one of the 108 Vishnu and Lakshmi temples that is mentioned in the works of the Alvars, the poet-saints of the Sri Vaishnava tradition.
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.
Sapper Anil Kumar Prakash is a retired Indian sprinter. He held the 100 metres national record of 10.30 s set at the National Circuit Athletic Meet held in New Delhi in 2005 which was broken in 2016.
Hari Shankar Roy is an Indian track and field athlete from West Bengal who specialises in the high jump. He held the previous national record of 2.25 metres set on 28 September 2004 in Singapore during the Asian All-Stars Athletic Championship. Which was broken by Tejaswin Shankar on 10 November 2016 in Coimbatore at the National Jr athletics championships, as a 17 year old.
Amritpal Singh was an Indian track and field athlete from Punjab who specialized in long jump. He held the national record from 2004 to 2013.
Mayookha Johny is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala who specialises in long jump and triple jump. She holds the current Indian National record for triple jump with a mark of 14.11 m. She is the first Indian woman to cross the fourteen-metre mark.
Sourabh Vij is an Indian shot putter. He won gold at the second Commonwealth Youth Games. In 2006 he won an Asian Junior silver medal and represented India at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics.
C. Sylendra Babu is an Indian Police Service Officer who served as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu Police. He retired on June 30, 2023 and was succeeded by Shankar Jiwal, IPS.
Sanjay Kumar Rai is an Indian track and field athlete from Uttar Pradesh, India who specializes in the long jump event. He competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games but did not record a valid jump. His personal best jump in IAAF competition is 8.03 m at the 2000 Asian Athletics Championships in Jakarta in 2000, where he won the silver medal.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Tenpin bowling is a popular and recreational sport in India. The activity is administered by the Bangalore-based Tenpin Bowling Federation of India. It organises the National Bowling League comprising championships for amateurs, corporate team tournaments as well as a national tour for professionals. Many Indians take up bowling for fitness, rather than for recreation. Bowling alleys in India are commonly a part of multiplexes and malls.
Many sports are played by the people of Tamil Nadu including both traditional sports and sports from other countries.
The 2013 Asian Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the biennial athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, India between 3–7 July. Around 522 athletes from 42 nations competed at the event. It was the first time since 1989 that India had hosted the championships.
Anitha Pauldurai is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the India women's national basketball team. She has been conferred with National Civilian Award Padma Shri in 2021. She has been also conferred with Chief Minister State award in the field of sports by Government of Tamilnadu in 2013.
Amjyot Singh Gill is an Indian professional basketball player. He has previously played for the Tokyo Excellence of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) and the Delhi Capitals of the UBA Pro Basketball League. He and Amritpal Singh became the first Indian males to sign a professional basketball contract abroad.
Ankit Sharma is an Indian athlete who competes in the long jump event. He holds the long jump national record of 8.19 metres set in June 2016 at the G. Kosanov Memorial Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Mariyappan Thangavelu is an Indian Paralympic high jumper. He represented India in the 2016 Summer Paralympics games held in Rio de Janeiro in the men's high jump T-42 category and the 2020 Summer Paralympic games held in Tokyo in the men's high jump T-63 category, winning the gold medal and silver medal respectively in the finals. He is India's first Paralympian gold medalist since 2004.
Tejaswin Shankar is an Indian athlete who competes in the decathlon event. He holds the high jump national record of 2.29 metres set in April 2018.
The National Basketball Championship is a men's national level basketball tournament, held by the Basketball Federation of India, governing body of basketball in India. The competition is contested among the regional state teams affiliated under Basketball Federation of India.
