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.
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 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.
Dipankar Bhattacharjee is a Badminton player from Assam, India. He represented India at many International tournaments including Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics. He was the Indian National Badminton Champion thrice and a runner-up twice. At Barcelona Olympics, he reached the pre-quarters.
Saina Nehwal is an Indian professional badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 that she was able to attain the world no. 1 ranking, thereby becoming the only female player from India and thereafter the second Indian player – after Prakash Padukone – to achieve this feat. She has represented India three times in the Olympics, winning a bronze medal in her second appearance at London 2012.
Brahmanand Sagoon Kamat Sankhwalkar is an Indian former footballer and a captain of the Indian team from 1983 to 1986, who played as a goalkeeper. Considered one of India's best goalkeepers, he had 25-year playing career. He played for Panvel Sports Club, Salgaocar, Churchill Brothers, Anderson Mariners at the club level, that included 17 years with Salgaocar, and for Goa state team in the Santosh Trophy. Playing for Goa, he led the team to two consecutive wins at the Santosh Trophy; in 1983 and 1984. Having maintained a clean sheet of 576 minutes in the 1984 tournament, he holds the Indian record.
Anand Amritraj is a businessman and former Indian tennis player. He, along with brother Vijay Amritraj, led India into the 1974 Davis Cup finals against South Africa, and was a part of the Indian team captained by Vijay Amritraj which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 1987 against Sweden.
Cricket is by far the most popular sport in Karnataka with International cricket matches attracting a sizeable number of spectators who are willing to pay more than the standard ticket price to get a chance to watch the match. The sports related infrastructure is mainly concentrated in Bangalore which also played host to the 4th National Games of India in the year 1997. Bangalore is also the location of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) which is the premier sports institute in the country. Karnataka is sometimes referred to as the cradle of Indian swimming because of high standards in swimming compared to other states.
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani – Goa Campus is one of the five constituent campuses of the BITS Pilani located in Goa, India. It was established in the year 2004 as an Institute of excellence in technology and sciences.
Nandu M. Natekar was an Indian badminton national champion.
Jwala Gutta is an Indian badminton player. Beginning in the late 1990s, she represented India at international events in both mixed and women's doubles. She has a total of 316 match wins in both the disciplines—the most by any Indian—and peaked at no. 6 in the world rankings. Gutta has won medals at numerous tournaments on the BWF circuit including a silver at the 2009 Superseries Masters Finals and a bronze at the 2011 World Championships.
India has a history of sports dating back to the Vedic period. Cricket is the most popular spectator sport; it generates the highest television viewership, with the Indian Premier League (IPL) being the most-followed league in the country. Football has also gained popularity, with the Indian Super League (ISL) being the highest level of domestic football, and the national team winning multiple gold medals at the Asian and South Asian Games. Additional football accomplishments include India having reached the Groupstage of the 1960 Olympics, qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, and won the SAFF Championship. Other sports include kabaddi, badminton, tennis, and athletics, with kho-kho becoming the fourth-most viewed sport. India has also had success in field hockey, winning the World Cup and multiple medals in the Olympic Games. Sports such as golf, rugby, boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, motorsport, wrestling, and basketball are featured throughout the country.
Valiyaveetil Diju, also known as V. Diju, is an Indian badminton player from Kozhikode, Kerala. He clinched six National Championships title, once in the men's doubles and five times in the mixed doubles. He represented India in the 2012 London Olympics, became the first Indian player to participate at the Olympics in the mixed doubles alongside Jwala Gutta. He is the winner of Arjuna Award 2014, given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, government of India to recognize his outstanding achievement in National sports. He is also the winner of G. V. Raja awards, which is the highest government-level recognition for sports persons in Kerala. He is winner of Jimmy George award 2014. He is also winner of Vivekanandha sports excellence award 2014. He won the Youth excellence award also in 2014.He is the only mixed doubles player from India to reach top 10 in the world badminton ranking(BWF) .His highest ranking is number 6th in world ranking.
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.
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.
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. Traditional 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.
Jerry Lalrinzuala, is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Indian Super League club Odisha.
Tanisha Crasto is an Indian badminton player from the United Arab Emirates. She formerly represented Bahrain and won the women's doubles event at the 2016 Bahrain International Challenge.
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj is an Arjuna awardee Indian professional Para-Badminton player currently ranked world No.2 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.
