Indian women have been going strong in the world of sports for quite some time now. With time, India has seen growth in domains where we were traditionally not doing well, and sports is one of them. With a host of honours on the field and quite a lucrative fan following off it, these women have become powerful figures. On the occasion of Women’s Day, let us celebrate the life of these prodigal daughters of India who have made their country proud with their conduct and success. Happy Women’s Day 2019 Videos: These Empowering Ads by Indian Brands Are a Must See on March 8 (Watch TVC Videos).

Saina Nehwal

The 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist is a former world no 1 in Badminton and is considered one of the best shuttler in the World. In addition to the Olympics, she has won medals at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games which speaks volumes of her calibre. She has twice finished at the podium in World Championships and is a recipient of Padma Bhushan back in 2016. Her recent marriage to fellow badminton player Parupalli Kashyap became the talk of the town with wishes pouring in from every quarter.

P V Sindhu

The first Indian women to win an Olympic silver medal, Sindhu has been going strong in the world of badminton for the past many years. She also became the first Indian women to win the World Tour title in 2018 along with silver medal at 2018 Asian Games. In the 2017 and 2018 BFW World Championships, she finished second to achieve quite a medal overhaul in her career. She is a recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri and Arjuna Awards and can be seen promoting brands like Bridgestone Tyres, Moov and Gatorade to name a few.

Sania Mirza

She has been India’s best women tennis player for more than a decade now in both doubles and singles category this despite retiring from singles way back in 2013. Mirza has won 6 Grand Slam titles in the doubles discipline and is a former world no 1. She has made it to the Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people in the world in 2016 and is often in the list of young achievers. She took a maternity leave in mid-2018 and will be next seen at the 2020 Olympics representing India.

Mithali Raj

One of the greatest women cricketers of all time, Mithali Raj has been leading Indian in tests and ODI. She is the only women cricketer to have managed 6000 runs in ODI cricket a feat she achieved in a career spanning two decades. In ten Test matches, she has 663 runs at a batting average of more than 50 along with 2307 T20 runs. Her batting feats led to the government bestowing the Padma Shri and Arjuna award on her.

Deepa Karmakar

The gymnast has popularised her sports in India through a string of top performances. She came agonisingly close to winning a medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio but finished fourth. She became the first Indian gymnast to participate in an Olympics after a gap of 52 years in the process which itself was a big feat. She has won medals the Commonwealth Games, Asian Gymnastics Championships and Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Deepa was conferred the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2017 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2016.

Hima Das

Indian sprinter Hima Das won the gold medal at the 2018 World U20 Championships to become the first Indian to do so in an international track event. She currently holds the national record in 400m event with a timing of 50.79 second which she achieved at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. All eyes will be glued to her when she turns up at the 2020 Olympics. Adidas signed an endorsement deal with her in 2018 which is enormous considering she ran barefoot in her village Dhing in her early days.

Manu Bhaker

All of 17, Manu Bhaker has already a Commonwealth Games gold medal and two ISSF World Cup gold medals to her name in shooting. She is being touted as the next big thing in Indian sporting scene due to the string of quality performances in an international event. She has been constantly outperforming far more senior shooters in her category, and it will not be a surprise if she bags a medal at the 2020 Olympics.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2019 10:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).