Dhanraj Pillay is a retired Indian field hockey player and former captain of the India national team. He also looks after the Air India Sports Promotion Board as a Joint Secretary based in Mumbai. For the last 5 years, Dhanraj is overseeing the SAG Hockey Academy in Gujarat funded by the Gujarat Government. He is widely regarded as one of the best Indian players of hockey.
Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore,, is an Indian politician, Olympic medallist, former shooting athlete and retired Indian Army officer. Rathore is a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Jaipur Rural seat.
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 metres (22.0 ft). 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 metres (22.4 ft) at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In March 2021, Anju won the BBC lifetime achievement award for best athlete in India. She is also the current vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India.
Durg is a city in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, east of the Shivnath River and is part of the Durg-Bhilai urban agglomeration. With an urban population of 1,064,077, Durg-Bhilai is the second largest urban area in Chhattisgarh after Raipur. It is the headquarters of Durg District.
Teejan Bai is an exponent of Pandavani, a traditional performing art form, from Chhattisgarh, in which she enacts tales from the Mahabharata, with musical accompaniments.
Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman. He is the first and one of only 2 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.
Dilip Tirkey, is a former Indian field hockey player, Politician and Sports Administrator. His former playing position was of full back. He was best known for his penalty corner hit. Dilip was one of the most difficult defenders to beat in the world and was known as "The Wall of Indian Hockey" He was an ex-captain of Indian hockey team. The first & only Hockey player from India to play more than 400 international matches Dilip Tirkey was the Former Captain of the Indian Hockey Team. Having played 412 international matches for India, Dilip Tirkey has represented India in 3 Olympic Games & was Captain of the Indian Hockey Team at the 2004 Summer Olympics at Athens. Under his captaincy, India clinched gold medal at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the Final. The First-ever Tribal to receive Padma Shri Award, Dilip Tirkey is a former Member of Parliament of India in Rajya Sabha, former Chairman of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC), Chairman of Odisha Hockey Promotion Council & Hockey Odisha's ad-hoc committee. In September 2022, he became President of Hockey India. On 22 March 2012, he was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha as one of the three Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidates to the Upper House of Indian Parliament. Previously, Dilip Tirkey was working as chairman of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC), now he is working as the chairman of Odisha Hockey Promotion Council. In September 2022, he was elected unopposed to the position of the president of Hockey India. He is the first ever international hockey player to become President of Hockey India Dilip Tirkey Sports Research Development Foundation short and abbreviated as DTSRD is an initiative of Padma Shri Dilip Tirkey. DTSRD has its registered office in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Dibakar Parichha serves as the Secretary-General of DTSRD while Prime Abhilas is the Managing Director of DTSRD. The Founder – President of DTSRD is Dilip Tirkey
Mamta Kharab is the former captain of the Indian women's hockey team. During the 2002 Commonwealth Games, she scored the winning goal which gave India the Gold. She also served as the model for the character of Komal Chautala in the 2007 Bollywood hit, Chak De India.Now she is working in Haryana police as a Deputy Supritendent of Police. She is a recipient of the Arjuna Award.
Bombayla Devi Laishram is an Indian archer. A member of the national recurve team representing India at the international events since 2007, she has won a silver medal at the World Archery Championships, and four gold, five silver, and four bronze medals at various editions of the Archery World Cup. Laishram peaked at no. 14 in the world rankings in March 2009.
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.
Sardara Singh, sometimes referred as Sardar Singh, is an Indian former professional field hockey player and captain of the Indian national team. He usually plays the center half position. Sardara became the youngest player to captain the Indian team when he led the side at the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015. On 13 July 2016, the responsibilities of the captain were handed over from him to P. R. Sreejesh, the goalkeeper of Indian Team. On 12 September 2018, Sardara announced his retirement from international hockey. He played 314 matches during 12 years in his career.
Sardar Anjum (1941-2015) was an Indian poet (Shayar and philosopher. He is the author of 25 books, and many audio cassettes/records of his poems. He had served Panjab University as Head of Urdu Department and has been Chancellor's nominee at Punjabi University Patiala. His feature film, Karzdar is a venture to bring the two countries, India and Pakistan closer in bonds. He died on 10 July 2015 at Panchkula, Haryana.
Rani Rampal is an Indian field hockey player. At the age of 15, she was the youngest player in the national team which participated in the 2010 World Cup. She has completed her schooling but was not able to get the graduate degree due to practice sessions and matches which were lined up. She plays forward on her team. She has played 212 international matches and scored 134 goals. She is currently the Captain for Indian Women's Hockey Team. She is also well known as a striker who often doubles up as mid-fielder. She has a great fascination with CWG. In 2020, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri.
Sunil Dabas is a coach of national female Kabbadi team of India. Over the years, she has coached her team to win seven international gold medals, including the 2010 Asian Games and the World Cup-2012. She was awarded the Dronacharya Award in 2012, and Padma Shri in 2014 by Government of India.
Vandana Katariya is an Indian field hockey player. She plays as a forward in the Indian national team. Vandana rose to prominence in 2013, being India's top goal-scorer in the 2013 Women's Hockey Junior World Cup, where India won a bronze medal; she scored five goals in the tournament, the third by any player.
Dipa Karmakar is an Indian Gymnast from Tripura State. She is the first gymnast of India who competed in the Olympics. In her debut 2016 Summer Olympics, in the final she reached till 4th position.
Shamshad Begum is an Indian social worker, known for her efforts towards the education of backward communities of Chhattisgarh such as the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and other backward communities. She was honoured by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Anitha Pauldurai is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the India women's national basketball team. She played for 18 years on the Indian women's national team. Anitha is the first only Indian woman to have played nine Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) championships continuously representing the national squad. Anitha has a record of 30 medals in national championships.
Eliza Nelson, née Eliza Mendonca, is an Indian field hockey player and a former captain of the women's national field hockey team of India. Born in a Goan family on 27 September 1956 at Pune in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Nelson played for the Indian Railways and led the Indian national team that won the gold medal at the 9th Asian Games held at New Delhi in 1982. She was also a member of the team that secured fourth place at the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics. She received the Arjuna Award in 1981 and the Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1983.
Punaram Nishad, born in Ringni, Dist Durg Chhattisgarh, is an Indian folk musician, known for his prowess in the Pandavani, a folk music tradition of Chhattisgarh and the neighbouring states in India. Born in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, to a Bhajan singer, he started learning the art from the age of 10 under Jhadu Ram Dewangan, considered by many as the father of Pandvani, and aligned with the Vedamati tradition of Pandavani, which follows a rigid text, and does not permit improvisations.
