Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman is an Indian former international cricketer and a former cricket commentator and pundit. A right-handed batsman known for his elegant stroke play, Laxman played as a middle-order batsman in Test cricket. Laxman is currently the Head of Cricket at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), and the head coach of the India Under-19 and India A teams. Laxman was a member of the Indian team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, which the title was also shared with Sri Lanka.
Abhinn Shyam Gupta is an Indian former badminton player. Presently he lives in City of Allahabad and is a former national champion in singles. Gupta played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, losing in the round of 32 to Park Tae-sang of South Korea. He had been coached by Malik Shamim Sultan.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is an Indian politician, Olympic medallist in shooting and retired colonel in the Indian Army. He is serving as a cabinet minister at the Industry & Commerce, Youth Affairs & Sports Department in the Government of Rajasthan since December 2023. Rathore was a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Jaipur Rural seat since 2014 till 2023.
Pankaj Mishra is an Indian essayist, novelist, and socialist. His non-fiction works include Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond, along with From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia, and A Great Clamour: Encounters with China and Its Neighbours, and he has published two novels. He is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, and prolific contributor to other periodicals such as The Guardian, The New York Times, The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. His writings have led to a number of controversies, including disputes with Salil Tripathi, Niall Ferguson and Jordan Peterson. He was awarded the Windham–Campbell Prize for non-fiction in 2014 and the Weston International Award in 2024.
Louis Antoine Smith MBE is a retired English artistic gymnast.
Ashleigh Jade Brennan is an Australian former gymnast who was on the Australia Gymnastics Artistic Women's National Team. She participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing sixth in the team event. She won a pair of team gold medals in the Commonwealth Games at the 2006 and 2010 Games. She won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and a bronze in 2010. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is also the sister of star Berwick footballer, Tom Brennan.
India has a history of sports dating back to the Vedic period, with Western sports having been imported during British rule. 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.
Ashish Kumar is an Indian artistic gymnast from Allahabad. In 2010, he became the first Indian gymnast to win medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, claiming a bronze and a silver medal. This achievement made him the most successful Indian gymnast in Commonwealth Games history.
Gymnastics came of age in India, when at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Ashish Kumar won the first-ever medal in gymnastics, he won a bronze medal. However, soon after the win, the President of the Gymnastics Federation of India asked Ashish's Chief Coach from the Soviet Union, Vladimir Chertkov: "Is this all that you can deliver, a bronze?" The comment was widely reported in the press.
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.
Deepa Malik is an Indian para athlete from Haryana. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put.
Dipa Karmakar is an Indian former artistic gymnast. She is the first Indian female gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games. At the 2016 Olympics, in the vault event, she missed a medal by just 0.15 points. Karmakar is one of only five women in the world to have mastered the Produnova vault. In 2024, she announced her retirement from gymnastics.
Akshata Shete is an Indian former rhythmic gymnast. She competed at the World Championships in 2009 and 2010 and represented India at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. After she retired, she became a judge and founded the Bombay Physical Culture Association Rhythmic Club in Mumbai. She is a recipient of the Shiv Chhatrapati Award.
Chief Petty Officer Rakesh Kumar Patra is an Indian male artistic gymnast, representing his nation at international competitions. He competed at world championships, including the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. He is supported by the GoSports Foundation through the Rahul Dravid mentorship programme. He is a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Navy.
Pooja Surve is an Indian former rhythmic gymnast. She represented India at international competitions and competed at two World championships, the 2009 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Japan and the 2010 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Moscow. In 2010, she was the only rhythmic gymnast from India to qualify for the individual final at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She won the Miss Exotic Performance award at the World Cup Belarus 2010, becoming the first Indian to ever receive this award. She is also a recipient of the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Award from the government of Maharashtra.
Palak Kour Bijral is an Indian individual rhythmic gymnast. She represents her nation at international competitions. She competed at world championships, including at the 2013 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships. In 2014 she competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Kshipra Joshi is a former Indian rhythmic gymnast who competed in the 2010 World Gymnastics Championships as well as in the 2010 commonwealth games for India. Kshipra now a coach at Premier rhythmic gymnastics academy. She is also recognised as an International level judge by the International Gymnastics Federation. She made and holds a Guinness World Record for 18 rotations in a '180-degree balance position' in one minute, the record was made on 21 March 2011 on the set of Guinness World Records - Ab India Todega in Mumbai. She was awarded the "Shiv Chhatrapati Krida Puraskar" in March 2011 by the Government of Maharashtra.
Shyam Singh Yadav is an Indian politician and a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. He is a member of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. He is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Papers laid on the Table since 2019. He is also the member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal and Steel; Parliamentary Joint Committee on Offices of Profit; member of Parliamentary General Purposes Committee ; and member of Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He is also a former PCS officer.
Pranati Nayak is an Indian artistic gymnast. She is the 2019 Asian Championships vault bronze medalist. She is the third Indian gymnast to win an international medal on the vault, after Dipa Karmakar and Aruna Reddy. She represented India at the 2020 Summer Olympics and is only the second Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympic Games. She is also the 2019 Indian all-around champion. She represented India at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games. She also competed at the 2014, 2017, and 2019 World Championships.
