Vijender Singh is an Indian professional boxer and reigning WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight and WBO Oriental Super Middleweight champion. Hailing from Haryana, Vijender started his career as an amateur boxer, with the highlight of his journey being the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medal. Before turning pro in 2015, Vijender also won two silvers and a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, alongside gold and a bronze medal in the Asian Games. He is a 2009 World Championship bronze medallist.

Mangte Chungneijang better known as MC Mary Kom is a record six-time amateur world boxing champion from India who has broken barriers to etch her name in the history books of the sport. Mary Kom is the only female boxer to win a medal in each of her first seven World Championships and the only pugilist in the world with eight medals at the event. Mary Kom is a 2012 London Olympics bronze winner and a two-time Asian Games medallist. She has Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri and Arjuna Award titles to her name. Mary Kom is also a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

Manika Batra is India’s leading female table tennis player with four Commonwealth Games and one Asian Games medal to her credit. Having started playing at a tender age of just four, Manika was quick to learn the tricks of the trade and gradually paved her way up the ranks. The highlight of her career came in 2018 when she bagged two gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze medal at the Gold Coast CWG. It was followed by another historic mixed doubles bronze medal in Jakarta Asiad. Later that year, she became the only Indian to receive The Breakthrough Star Award by ITTF. In 2020, she was conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

Mirabai Chanu is India’s top-ranked weightlifter and a 2017 world champion. Hailing from Manipur, Mirabai was quick to impress the world with a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, What followed was back-to-back National Championships titles and eventually a world title won in Anaheim, USA. In 2018, Mirabai won a gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and a year later, created a new national record in the 49kg weight category at the World Championships. Mirabai is a Padma Shri and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna recipient.

An 800m and 1500m running specialist, Jinson Johnson is an elite Indian athlete hailing from Kozhikode, Kerala. Jinson came to the limelight when he won a silver medal at the 2015 Asian Athletics Championship. In 2018, he won a gold medal in 1500m and a silver in 800m events at the Jakarta Asian Games which also happens to be the same year Jinson broke a 42-year-old national record in 800m. Jinson is a 2018 Arjuna Award winner.

Lovlina Borgohain is one of India’s finest amateur boxers and a top pugilist in the 69kg category. Hailing from Assam, Lovlina started her career as a kickboxer but later switched to boxing for better exposure. She is a two-time World Championships bronze medallist and a gold medallist in the inaugural India Open International Boxing. Lovlina is also the first female from her state to qualify for the Olympics. She is part of 2021 Tokyo Olympics squad. Lovlina is a 2020 Arjuna Award recipient.

Simranjit Kaur is a World Championships bronze medallist boxer. As a kid, Simranjit’s boxing career started in home state Punjab where she trained with boys due to lack of female boxers in her weight category, something she credits for her strength and sturdy built. Her major success came in the year 2018 when she clinched the bronze medal in New Delhi World Boxing Championships. A year later, she secured a silver at the Asian Championship and also qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

Abhay Singh hailing from Chennai at the age of 16 chose squash as a professional sport. It was at the age of 17 when he became the best junior in the country. He led the Indian Team at the World Championship and also was the flag bearer of the Indian contingent. 2019 and 2020. Abhay moved to England for better training and it worked wonders for him as he won silver and bronze at the South Asian Games held in Nepal, Kathmandu. After the incredible performance in South Asian Games, his performance rose to the next level as he became the first Indian to clinch the British U-23 Open crown in 2020.

Jamuna Boro is an Indian boxer and a World Championships bronze medallist. Ranked 3rd in the world in 69kg category as of July 2020, Jamuna started her career as a Wushu player in Assam. During one state-level championship, she was recognised by the Sports Authority of India who encouraged her to take up boxing. Jamuna was quick to rise up the rankings winning several sub junior and youth boxing championships locally and internationally. It was in 2019 when Jamuna grabbed the headlines with a bronze in the world event in Russia. She also emerged champion in the India Open in the same year.

Rani Rampal has led the Indian women’s national hockey team by example, both on and off the turf. The 25-year-old’s goal against the USA in 2019 that sealed India’s safe passage to the Tokyo Olympics remains one of the highlights of her career.
Rani was just 15 when she debuted for India in the 2010 Hockey World Cup. She was adjudged the Best Young Player of the Tournament during that event and her stature as a prolific forward and captain has grown ever since.
Rani starred in both the Asian Games 2014 bronze and 2018 silver-winning campaign and has picked up several laurels and accolades over the years. She was part of the 2016 Rio Olympics women’s squad which had qualified after 36 years and was conferred with the Arjuna Award the same year.
The start of the year 2020 was a double joy for the girl from Shahbad, Haryana as she was conferred with the Padma Shri, followed by the World Games Athlete of the Year award.
Rani will be one of the five athletes to receive the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2020.

Hailing from a family of traditional javelin throwers, Shivpal was introduced to the sport at a very young age. His grandfather, father Ramasaraya and uncles Jagmohan and Shivpujan have all performed at the national platform. Under the tutelage of Jagmohan, a former national champion, Shivpal started to hone his skills at as a 12-year-old and since then has gone on to establish himself as one of India’s finest javelin throwers. With a personal best of 86.23m, Shivpal has an Asian Athletics Championships silver medal, a CISM Military Games gold medal and a South Asian Games silver medal under his belt.

Lalremsiami is a young striker and a rising star of the Indian women’s national hockey team. Hailing from Mizoram, Lalremsiami is the first woman from her state to win an Asian Games medal when the Rani Rampal-led side secured a silver in the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta-Palembang. Lalremsiami started hockey at the age of 11 when she was inducted in the state hockey academy and internationally hit the ground running right away with a stellar show in the 2017 Asia Cup, where India emerged winners. Lalremsiami has since made herself a mainstay in the Indian frontline. In 2019, tragedy struck the Mizo forward as her father, a farmer, passed away during the fag end of the FIH Series Final. However, Lalremsiami decided to stay put and help India qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – a parting gift to her father in her own words. The same year, Lalremsiami became the first Indian women’s hockey player to be named FIH Rising Star of the Year. 

After a crippling Hip injury and post-surgery complication, a natural-born athlete didn’t allow it to be the end of a sporting career. Since childhood, Sandeep has always been a jack of all trades when it came to sports. His achievements range from being a National level player in Badminton & Volleyball to a world record holder in the Javelin throw. He knew fully well his upper body would have what it took to win him the Gold in the Asiad games after coming 4th in Rio Paralympics. In 2019, he became the first Indian to win World Para Championships and set the world record.

Born in Agra in a family of 7, Deepti was just 9 years old when she developed a keen interest in cricket. She made her ODI debut in November 2014 versus South Africa & played her first T20I against Australia in January 2016.  She has played 61 ODI, 53 T20Is till now. The 2020 Arjuna awardee plays for Bengal since 2017 in the domestic circuit. She is constantly playing for the Indian Team ever since & has recently been selected to play the Indian women tour of England 2021 in all three formats. Deepti Sharma was part of the Indian team to reach the final of the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup where the team lost to England by nine runs. She scored 216 runs from 8 matches at an average of 30.86 and picked up 12 wickets from 9 matches played with best bowling figures of 3 for 59 from 7.1 overs against Australia. Sharma’s bowling best figures in her career is 6-20 that she claimed in the final ODI against Sri Lanka at Ranchi.

Sharma was also involved in a world record opening partnership of 320 runs with Poonam Raut, with the former contributing 188 runs. Thus, breaking both the standing women’s record of 229 (by Sarah Taylor and Caroline Atkins of England) and the standing men’s record in ODIs of 286 (by Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka). She was honored with Jagmohan Dalmia Trophy for best Senior Women’s Cricketer in 2018-2019 by BCCI.

Tajinder used to play cricket as a child, but his father encouraged him to take shot put. He took up a shot put in 2006 in Khosa Pando village in Moga district, India. He joined the Indian Navy under a sports quota program that allows him to train and compete internationally. In June 2017, Toor recorded his personal best outdoor throw of 20.40m at the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships in Patiala but fell short of the World Championships qualification standard of 20.50m. In the following month, he won the silver medal at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar with a throw of 19.77m, missing out on the gold medal by 0.03m. Toor won gold at the 2018 Asian Games with a 20.75m throw, breaking the Games record and the national record. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by throwing 21.49m at the Indian Grand Prix IV in 2021, clearing the 21.10m entry standard. This throw also rewrote the national as well as Asian records.

Hailing from the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Revathi is 23-year-old. Born into a financially unstable family, she lost her father when studying in 4th grade and her mother the next year. Revathi, along with her sister, then stayed in government-run hostels and studied in government-run schools with support from her grandmother, who worked as a daily wage labourer. 

V Revathi emerged as the fastest Indian woman during the mixed 4x400m Olympic relay team trials. While her performance would not have been a surprise to the close followers of Indian athletics, too many others it certainly was.

The youngster clocked 53.55 seconds to cross the finish line ahead of the likes of Shuba V, the latest sprinting sensation Dhanalakshmi, the experienced Jisna Mathew, and the Asian Games gold medallist VK Vismaya, to make her way to the Indian Olympic contingent. Revathi has been around for quite some time, but it is her qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as part of the Mixed 4x400m team, bringing her the much-needed spotlight.

Delhi sprinter Sarthak Bhambri has come a long way after suffering a career-threatening knee injury five years ago. He will make Olympics debut for India in the mixed 4x400m relay team at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 after a decidedly uphill battle. At the beginning of 2017, Sarthak Bhambri felt a pain in his right knee. He was unable to run without feeling pain and had to undergo surgery. The period post knee surgery was even more traumatic for him as the doctor told him he might not run again. In the final selection trials conducted by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to select 400m runners for the mixed 4x400m relay team in Patiala, Sarthak Bhambri finished first with a time of 47.73 seconds to get the nod of the AFI. 

The 25-year old be one of eight Olympic debutants in Tokyo. The forward, noticeable on the field for her striking white headband, made her debut in 2012 along with Navjot. The two have managed to develop a great understanding since then. Also part of the 2013 Junior World Cup and the 2018 Asian Games, Navneet is known for her one-touch shots at the goal and her ability to find the right position at the right time to counter the goalkeeper. Her solo runs are her trademark when left without support upfront.

A drag-flick specialist and one of the most potent scorers, it’s a trend that has continued since his junior days. He scored six times at Tokyo 2020, behind just three players on the leaderboard. He claims that he started developing the shoulder muscles needed for the art when, as a 10-year-old, he’d sneak his way onto his father’s tractor but would have to wrestle with the rusty gearstick before he could get it started. A few years later he’d move to the famed Surjit Academy where he’d develop his craft further. He’s not just a threat in front of goal, but also a reliable defender and passer.

Nishad was six when his right hand went into the fodder-cutting machine while helping his mother at home. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Hoshiarpur in Punjab, but the hand had to be amputated. Nishad would win a high jump silver medal in the sub-junior category at the 2013 National School Games in Patiala, it was not untill 2017 that he started competing in the para category. The athlete came to Panchkula to train under Naseem Ahmad, coach of Olympic javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra, and Vikram Chaudhary. He would win the silver medal in high jump with an effort of 1.83m at the National Para Athletics Championship at Panchkula the same year. In 2019, Nishad would emerge as the champion at the World Para Grand Prix Championship in Dubai with a jump of 1.92m before getting a bronze medal at the World Para Championships at Dubai the same year with a jump of 1.99m

Priyanka Goswami’s journey to the Tokyo Olympics is quite intriguing, as race-walking wasn’t her first sport and she also had no idea about the existence of the Olympics until 2012.
Goswami practised gymnastics at school for a few months before switching to athletics. She was attracted to running because of the prize bags available to successful competitors. In February 2021, she won the Indian Racewalking Championship in the 20 km race, with a new Indian record of 1:28.45, and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. She previously won the Indian Racewalking championship in 2017. She works as a OS for Indian Railways.

Nishad was six when his right hand went into the fodder-cutting machine while helping his mother at home. He was taken to a hospital in nearby Hoshiarpur in Punjab, but the hand had to be amputated. Nishad would win a high jump silver medal in the sub-junior category at the 2013 National School Games in Patiala, it was not untill 2017 that he started competing in the para category. The athlete came to Panchkula to train under Naseem Ahmad, coach of Olympic javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra, and Vikram Chaudhary. He would win the silver medal in high jump with an effort of 1.83m at the National Para Athletics Championship at Panchkula the same year. In 2019, Nishad would emerge as the champion at the World Para Grand Prix Championship in Dubai with a jump of 1.92m before getting a bronze medal at the World Para Championships at Dubai the same year with a jump of 1.99m

19-year-old Sonam hailing from Sonipat, who hogged the limelight after defeating 2016 Rio Olympic Medalist Sakshi Malik twice in 2020. Sonam made her debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for India.

Anshu Malik, hailing from Jind in Haryana made news becoming the first Indian wrestler to win a medal at the World Championships earlier this year. Anshu who won the Silver medal in the 57KG category in the 2021 World Wrestling Championship, Oslo, Norway.