Prakash Padukone is a former Indian badminton player. He was ranked World No. 1 in 1980; the same year he became the first Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships. He was awarded the Arjuna award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982 by the Government of India. He is one of the co-founders of Olympic Gold Quest, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.
Krishna Poonia is an international gold-medalist Indian discus thrower, track-and-field athlete, 2 times Olympics participant, Padma Shri and Arjuna Award recipient, politician from the Congress party and the formar MLA from Sadulpur constituency in Rajasthan. She participated in 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, she won a gold medal. She was appointed the President Of the Rajasthan State Sports Council in February 2022.
Vikas Shive Gowda is an Indian discus thrower and shot putter. Born in Mysore, he grew up in Frederick, Maryland in the United States. His father, Shive Gowda, coached the 1988 Indian Olympic track team. Vikas Gowda is a Padma Shri awardee in 2017.
Dylan Armstrong is a Canadian athletics coach and retired competitive shot putter. He is the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World Athletics Championships medalist, a two-time Pan American Games champion, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in that discipline. He was awarded his Olympic bronze medal in 2015, seven years after the event, following the doping disqualification of competitor Andrei Mikhnevich.
Thokchom Nanao Singh is an Indian boxer from Khoijuman Maning Leikai village in Bishnupur district of Manipur. He trains at Pune-based Army Sports Institute and is supported by Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation to identify and support Indian athletes.
India hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games which were held in Delhi from 3 to 14 October 2010. India won 101 medals in total, including 38 Gold medals, enabling it to finish the Games at second position behind Australia. For the first time in the history of the Games India won over 100 medals in total. For the first time in the history of the Games, India won a medal in Gymnastics, where Ashish Kumar won a Silver and a Bronze. And it was after a gap of 52 years that India won a Gold in Athletics when Krishna Poonia won Gold in Women's discus throw and when Geeta Phogat won India's first ever gold medal in women's wrestling.
Bahadur Singh Chauhan, born on 8 February 1946 in a Sikh Rajput family is a former Indian shot putter. Between 1973 and 1985 he won three gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Asian Games and Championships. He placed 15th at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and was honoured with Arjuna award and Padma Shri. He is a recipient of Dronacharya Award, by the government of India. Presently he is working as the head coach of the Indian athletics team.
Jaisha Orchatteri Puthiya Veetil, commonly known as O. P. Jaisha, is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala. She is the current national record holder in the marathon, a distinction she achieved by clocking 2:34:43 at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. In the process she bettered her own mark of 2:37:29, set at the 2015 Mumbai Marathon. She is also a former national record holder in the 3000 metres steeplechase.
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.
Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) is a program of the Foundation for Promotion of Sports and Games, a Not for Profit Company, which is committed to bridging the gap between the best athletes in India and the best athletes in the world thus helping Indian athletes to win Olympic Gold medals.
India competed at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games held in the Isle of Man from 7 to 13 September 2011. India has participated in all the editions of the Commonwealth Youth Games. The nation was represented by the Indian Olympic Association, which is responsible for the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games in India.
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.
Manpreet Kaur is an Indian professional Olympic shot putter. Born in Ambala, her gold-medal winning performance of 18.86m at the 2017 Asian Grand Prix in Jinhua, China turned out to be a world-leading throw, taking her to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. She jointly holds the Indian national record 18.06m in Women's Shot Put with Abha Khatua. Kaur was qualified to represented India at Summer Olympics at Rio 2016 in shot put.
Abhay Singh Chautala is an Indian politician and Member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from Ellenabad. He also served as the Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Legislative Assembly under the Indian National Lok Dal. He is the grandson of the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Devi Lal and the son of Haryana's former Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala.
Tomas Walsh is a New Zealand athlete who competes mainly in the shot put. He is the current national record holder both outdoors and indoors for the event. His personal best of 22.90 m, set in Doha, 5 October 2019, is also the Oceanian record and makes him the sixth best shot putter in history.
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.
Inderjeet Singh is an Indian athlete specializing in the shot put. He won the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships as he was a good man 2015. He competed at the 2013 Summer Universiade and won the silver medal with a throw of 19.70 m, his personal best at that time. He is currently supported by Anglian Medal Hunt Company.
Manu Bhaker is an Indian Olympian who competes at shooting, supported by OGQ. She represented India at the 2018 ISSF World Cup and won two gold medals. She is the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. She won the gold medal in women's 10 m air pistol event at 2018 Commonwealth Games just at the age of 16 in her maiden Commonwealth Games appearance. She won the team gold for India in the women’s 25m pistol team event at the Asian Games, along with Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan.
Tajinderpal Singh Toor is an Indian shot putter who is a two-time Asian champion, an Asian Games gold-medallist, four time national champion, an Olympian supported by OGQ and the current Asian record holder in Asian and national record of 21.77m.
