Sports in Andhra Pradesh has its own importance, where many sporting personalities were into limelight. The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) undertakes the sports development activities such as construction of stadiums, establishment of sports academies and other sporting related activities. The sports infrastructure have increased tremendously by improving infrastructure in outdoor and Indoor stadiums, play fields, sports academies, sports equipments etc. [1] Sports such as kho kho, kabaddi are played mostly in Andhra Pradesh.Most sports players from Andhra pradesh represent national level competitions and very few international competitions.
Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the state. The Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam is the home to Andhra Pradesh cricket team. The venue regularly hosts international as well as domestic matches. Notable cricketers from Andhra Pradesh, include C.K Nayudu, Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, M. V. Narasimha Rao, M. S. K. Prasad, V.V.S. Laxman, Tirumalasetti Suman, Arshad Ayub, Ambati Rayudu, Venkatapathy Raju, Sravanthi Naidu, Yalaka Venugopal Rao, Hanuma Vihari etc.
The Andhra Cricket Association (central zone) has an Amaravati International Cricket Stadium in Mangalagiri, Amaravati of Guntur district. [2] Former India batsman VVS Laxman, inaugurated Andhra Cricket Association's Central Zone Academy in June 2013 at this venue. [3] Andhra Cricket Association is the headquarters of the India national women's cricket team. [4]
Humpy Koneru, from Gudivada of Krishna district of the state, is an Indian chess Grandmaster. Koneru (during 2002-08 period), held the record as the youngest woman ever to become a grand master. [5] In 2001 she won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship. She is currently in the lead in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–2014 and won many awards namely Asia's youngest International Woman Master (1999), World under-14 championship, Castellan, Spain (2001), India's youngest Woman Grand Master (2001), World Junior Championship, Athens (2001), Arjuna Award in (2003). [6]
Pentala Harikrishna, is a chess player from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. became the youngest grandmaster from India on 12 September 2001. Won gold medals in Commonwealth Chess Championship (1999, 2000, 2001), Ron Banwell MSO Masters tournament (2001), World Junior Champion (2004), [7] Asian Games (2006), Spice Cup Tournament (2008), Nancy closed chess tournament (2009), [8] Chigorin Memorial (blitz) (2009), [9] Asian Team Chess Championship (2009), New York Open (2010), Asian Continental Individual Chess Championship (2011).
Dronavalli Harika is a chess grandmaster from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. She won the Asian Individual Women Chess Championship. [10] Her achievements include the Commonwealth Women's Championship (2006, 2007, 2010), World Youth Chess Championship titles (2004), Bronze medal in 2010 Asian Games in Woman's individual rapid event, [11] second Indian woman Grandmaster (after Koneru Humpy). [12] She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2007.
Karnam Malleswari, the first female Indian to win an Olympic medal, hails from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. She won the bronze medal on 19 September 2000, in the 69 kg category with a lift of 240 kg. [13] Dandamudi Rajagopal Rao, the first male Indian to win 13 Year national weightlifting champion.
Pullela Gopichand, is a former Indian badminton player. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships (2001), to becoming the second Indian to achieve it after Prakash Padukone. [14] [15] [16]
He won his National Badminton Championship 5 times in a row (1996-2000). He won two gold and one silver at the Indian national games (1998), Toulouze open championship in France (1999) and the Scottish Open championship. He won many awards namely Arjuna Award (1999), [17] Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2001), Padma Shri (2005), Dronacharya Award (2009), Padma Bhushan (2014) [18]
Chetan Anand is a badminton player from Vijayawada. Chetan Anand was a four time National Badminton champion in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2010.
Andhra Pradesh is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of 162,975 km2 (62,925 sq mi) and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the north-west, Chhattisgarh to the north, Odisha to the north-east, Tamil Nadu to the south, Karnataka to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. It has the second longest coastline in India after Gujarat, of about 974 km (605 mi). Andhra State was the first state to be formed on a linguistic basis in India on 1 October 1953. On 1 November 1956, Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking areas of the Hyderabad State to form United Andhra Pradesh. In 2014 these merged areas of Hyderabad State were bifurcated from United Andhra Pradesh to form the new state Telangana. The present form of Andhra is similar to Andhra state, but some mandalas like Bhadrachalam are still included in Telangana. Amaravati serves as the capital of present Andhra with the largest city being Visakhapatnam.
Krishna district is district in the coastal Andhra Region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is the coastal district of Andhra Pradesh. Machilipatnam is the most populated city in the district. It is surrounded on the east by Bay of Bengal, west by Guntur and north by Eluru and NTR districts and south again by Bay of Bengal. In 2022 Krishna district was divided into Krishna and NTR districts.
Koneru Humpy is an Indian chess player best known for winning the FIDE Women's rapid chess championship in 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgár's previous record by three months. In October 2007, Humpy became the second female player, after Polgár, to exceed the 2600 Elo rating mark, being rated 2606.
Karnam Malleswari is a retired Indian weightlifter. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympics in 2000. In 1994, she received the Arjuna Award and in 1999, she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour, and the civilian Padma Shri award.
Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian 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 Dronacharya Award in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – in 2014.
Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). She has won three bronze medals in the Women's World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Dronavalli was honored with the Arjuna Award for the year 2007–08 by the government of India. In 2016, she won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix event at Chengdu, China and rose up from world no. 11 to world no. 5 in FIDE women's ranking. Vladimir Kramnik, Judit Polgar and Viswanathan Anand are her chess inspirations. In 2019, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the field of sports.
Syed Mohammed Arif, popularly known as Arif Saahab, is an Indian badminton coach. He is a recipient of Dronacharya Award and Padma Shri Award by the Government of India.
Parupalli Kashyap is an Indian badminton player. A former World No.6, he trains at Gopichand Badminton Academy. He was awarded the Arjuna Award by the Government of India in 2012.
Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) is a badminton training facility in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Founded in 2008 by the 2001 All England Open Badminton Champion, Pullela Gopichand, the facility trains several badminton players such as Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, Parupalli Kashyap, H.S. Prannoy, Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma and many others.
Rajah Menuri Venkata Gurusaidutt or R. M. V. Gurusaidutt or Gurusai Dutt born to RMV Bharadwaj and RM Anjana is a badminton player from India. He trains at the Hyderabad's Gopichand Badminton Academy. He won the gold medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games and the bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at the 2019 World Championships. She is the first and only Indian to become the badminton world champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. She rose to a career-high world ranking of no. 2 in April 2017.
Srikanth Kidambi is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, Kidambi was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. and the Arjuna award in 2015. In 2021, he became the first Indian to reach the World Championship final in the men's singles discipline.
Kiran Manisha Mohanty is an Indian chess player. She holds the title of Woman Grandmaster. She was the Runners up in Asian Junior Girls Championship held at New Delhi in 2006.
Bodda Pratyusha is an Indian chess player. In 2012, she was the Indian girls' under-17 champion. In April 2015, she earned the Woman International Master (WIM) title.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is an Indian badminton player. He and his partner, Chirag Shetty, are the first men's doubles pair from India to be ranked inside the top 10 of the BWF World Ranking, with a career-high ranking of 5.
Sri Venkateswara Bala Kuteer (SVBK) is a private school located in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1965 by Dr Nannapaneni Manga Devi and Ms Garige Prabhavathi.