Anju Bobby George

Anju Bobby George is an Indian athlete. Anju Bobby George made history when she won the bronze medal in Long Jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris.she became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics. She went on to win the silver medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005, a performance she considers her best.

Anju was born in Kochuparambil family in Changanassery, Kerala to K.T.Markose. She was initiated into athletics by her father and her interest was further developed by her trainer in Koruthode school. Anju's talent was noticed in the national schools games where she won third place in 100 m hurdles and 4x100 m relay. She was in Calicut University.

She started her carrer with Heptathlon, later began to concentrate on her jump events and went on to win long jump medal in the 1996 Delhi junior Asian championship. n 1999, she set the national record for triple jump in the Bangalore Federation Cup. She achieved her personal best of 6.83 m at the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens that brought her the sixth position. Anju Bobby George won the Gold medal in the women`s Long Jump at the 16th Asian Athletics Championship in Incheon City of South Korea with a leap of 6.65 metres.In the year 2008, started well for Anju Bobby George, as she won the Silver medal in 3rd Asian Indoor Championship in athletics at Doha.

Awards: 2002-03 Arjuna Award 2003-04 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2004 Padma Shri 2004 & 2005 Hero Sports Academy Awards- Sports Woman of the year 2004 Jimmy George Award 2003 Mathrubhumi Star of the year 2001 & 2002 The best female Athlete National Games The great success and milestones that she has achieved in her career have encouraged many more young Indians to take up Athletics seriously, as a career option. her highest ever World ranking of No. 4, in May-June, 2004. She was considered to be one of the best Athletes in the world during that period. She is currently associated with the Customs department in India.

Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza is an Indian tennis player. She started her tennis career in 2003. In 2004 she was honored with the Arjuna award by the Indian government in sports. Date of Birth: Nov 15 1986.

She was brought up in Hyderabad in a devout Muslim family.Her Father was a sports journalist, Imran Mirza and her mother Nasima in Mumbai. She went to Nasr school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's College.She began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father.She is creating history in Tennis worldwide. She is the first Indian to get into Top 50 WTA Rankin.

In April 2003, Mirza made her debut in the India Fed Cup team, winning all three singles matches. Mirza won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. Sania is the only Indian woman to enter the fourth round of a Grand Slam event in 2005 U.S.Open.Her career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. she became the first Indian woman to win any grand slam event. She won the Mixed Doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open with Mahesh Bhupathi.

Awards: 2008: Became Asia No. 1 Player on 28-01-2008. Ranked 29th at that time. 2006: Padmshree Award by Government of India. Become youngest achiever of Padmashree winner at the age of 19. A Padmashree award is one of the highest civilian awards in India and the winners are honored on Republic Day. 2005: Newcomer of the year 2004: Arjuna Award by Government of India Mirza received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 2008-12-11.

Geeta Zutshi

She is one of the best known Indian woman athletes, Geeta Zutshi has made India proud by winning several national and international awards. She has won medal in various categories like 800 meters, 1500 meters and others. Presently she is serving as the coach of the junior team.

She was born on December 2, 1956. In the year 1978, Geeta won the women`s 800 m gold medal at the Asian Games held in Bangkok. She won the silver medals for the 800 m track event in the year 1982. She has also won medals for the 1500 m in both the year 1978 and 1982.

She has been awarded the Arjuna award and the Padma Shri by Indian Government in sports. She has inspired other Indian women, such as Bachendri Pal, the first to climb Mount Everest.

Later she went to USA, She returned to India in July, 2002, that is after 17 years and took over the Indian junior athletics team as a coach (800m and 1500m).

P.T. Usha

Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha, every one known as P.T.Usha is an Indian athlete from the state of Kerala. She is the queen of Indian track and field for two decades, the woman who was nicknamed 'Payyoli Express' because of her speed on the race-track.

PT Usha was born, as the daughter of Paithal and Lakshmi, at Payyoli, a small village in Kozhikode, on June 27, 1964.

In 1979 she participated in the National School Games, where she was noticed by O. M. Nambiar, who coached her throughout her career. Her debut in the 1980 Moscow Olympics proved lacklustre. In the 1982 New Delhi Asiad, she got silver medal in the 100 m and the 200 m, She became the first Indian woman (and the fifth Indian) to reach the final of an Olympic event by winning her 400 m hurdles Semi-final. Usha missed winning the bronze by just 1/100th of a second in 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

She won five golds at the 6th Asian Track and Field Championship at Jakarta in 1985. Her six medals at the same meet is a record for a single athlete in a single international meet. In the 10th Asian Games held at Seoul in 1986, P. T. Usha won 4 gold and 1 silver medal in the track and field events.

Awards: Usha has won 101 international medals so far. She is employed as an officer in the Southern Railways. In 1985, she has been honored with the Padma Shri and the Arjuna award. P.T Usha started a School of Athletics for impart training to girl children from all over the country.

Neelam Jaswant Singh

Neelam Jaswant Singh , (born 8 January 1971 in Farmana) is an Indian discus thrower. Her personal best throw is 64.55 metres. This best throw was achieved at the 2002 Asian Games. She tested positive for the banned stimulant pemoline during the 2005 World Championships in an in-competition test. She won a bronze medal at the Bangkok Asian Games.

Neelam Jaswant Singh was born on 8th January in the year 1971 in Haryana. Her specialty is the discus and as a junior from 1986 and then, on maturing, in the seniors, she has been one of the most talented athletes in the country. She has been married to her coach Jaswant Singh. Neelam is employed with the Railway Coach Factory in Kapurthala .She honored with Arjuna Award by Indian Government in the year 1998.

Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj was the captain of the Indian women's cricket team. Born on 3rd December, 1982 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan to Leela Raj & Dorai Raj, a Telugu couple from Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. As a child, she was trained in Bharata Natyam, an Indian classical dance and gave stage performances. She is employed with the Indian Railways.

Mithali started to play the game at a tender age of 10 and at the age of 17, she was picked for the Indian team and her ODI debut was against Ireland at Milton Keynes in the year 1999. On her debut, she opened the innings and scored 114* as India went on to win that match comfortably. She made her test match debut in the 2001-02 season. She became famous for her score of 214 runs in a test match against England at Taunton.

She led the Indian team to the finals in the Women's Cricket World Cup of 2005 where the team lost to Australia. She is a part-time leg break bowler as well. She is a recipient of the Arjuna award for the year 2003. As on June 29th, 2009, Mithali Raj is the number 2 batsman in the ICC World Women's Cricket rankings. She is the only Indian woman cricketer in the top 20.

Anjum Chopra

Anjum Chopra is a member of the Indian women's cricket team. She was born on 20 may 1977 in New Delhi.

She made her debut in One-day Internationals and Test cricket in 1995.She usually opens the batting for India. She is a left-handed batswoman and has been compared to the English batsman David Gower. She has a solid defence. She often starts slowly, but can go on to make big scores. Her highest scores in Tests and One Day Internationals are 80 and 100 respectively. She is also an occasional right-arm medium fast bowler.

Soma Biswas

Soma Biswas She is one of the top woman heptathlon athletes in India. She made India proud by winning the silver medal at the Asian Games in Busan. She has been awarded the Arjuna Award.

Soma was born on 16th May, 1978 in Ranaghat, West Bengal. She was attracted to athletics from her childhood. She won the silver medal in 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. She won another silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. She managed to win the 110m hurdles, the 200m and the 800m during that heptathlon. Biswas worked with Kuntal Rai and several foreign coaches. She got married recently.

Saina Nehwal

A new youth sensation, Saina Nehwal is the first Indian to win the prestigious World Junior Badminton Championships. She also represented India in the Olympics. She has been nominated as one of the most promising Player in 2008.Currently ranked number 7 in the world by Badminton World Federation. She is first Indian woman to win the Indonesian Open Super Series in 2009.

Saina was born on born 17 March 1990 in Hisar, Haryana, India. Her parents as Harvir Singh, who is a scientist at Directorate of Oilseeds Research, and Usha Rani. She has always received the support of her family members.

Saina created history by the winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament (India Chapter) twice, becoming the first player to do so. The Junior Czech Open, which took place in the year 2003, was a major break in the career of Saina Nehwal. She is the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships in 2008. On 21st June, 2009, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title.

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar rose to fame by winning 2 gold medals and a silver medal at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998. She was hailed as the New Golden Girl of India", and has been awarded the Rajib Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Award.

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar has been an Indian Athlete, and won the Gold medals in 800 m and 1500 m events and a Silver medal in the 1998 Asian Games. Later on she moved to politics and became a successful politician.

Born in December 1969 in Debogram a town in Nadia district in West Bengal, Jyotirmoyee began her athletics career as a worthy successor to Shiny Abraham in the 800 metres.

Career: Jyotirmoyee won a Gold Medal at the Open National Athletics Meet 1993. In the year 1994, she created a new National Record and won the Gold Medal in the 1500m race event at the National Athletics Meet. She also created a new National Record in the 800m race in 1995.

Jyotirmoyee participated in 4x400 relay race at the World Railway Meet 1994 held at London, and won a Gold Medal in the event. Sikdar participated in the International ITC Athletics Meet twice, and won a Bronze Medal in the year 1994 and a Gold & Silver Medal in 1997.

Ploitical Career: Later she jumped into the Politics. She won the 2004 Lok Sabha Election from Krishnagar seat of West Bengal on the ticket of Communist Party of India.

Awards: She was named the Indian Railways Best Sportsperson of the year 1996. She is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award for the year 1998-1999. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2003.

Seema Antil

Seema Antil is a well known discuss player and made the country proud by winning the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2006. She has been honored with the prestigious Bhim Award.

Seema Antil was born on 27 July 1983. Antil originally won the gold medal at the 2000 World Junior Championships, but lost it due to a positive drugs test for pseudoephedrine. This being a minor drug offense, she was issued a public warning by the IAAF and thus not suspended. She won a bronze medal at the next World Junior Championships in 2002.

She has been honored with the prestigious Bhim Award by state government Haryana.64.84 metres is her personal best throw. She achieved it in August 2004 in Kyiv.

Karnam Malleswari

Karnam Malleswari is an Indian Weightlifter. She was the first Indian woman to ever win an Olympic medal. She won the bronze in the women's 69 kg weightlifting at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

She was born in Andhra Pradesh on 1 June, 1976. To her first time she participated in the 'National Junior weight lifting championship and stood First. In 1992 she participated in the Asian champion ship which took place in Thailand and stood second and won three silver medals. She also won three Bronze medals in the world championship. She was the world champion in 1993 and 1994 in a weightlifting category of 63 kg.

In 1995, Malleswari won the world weightlifting title in her class (54 kg) with a new record, by lifting 113.0 kg in the clean and jerk. She also won the 1995 Asian championship. She broke her own records in the Senior National Weightlifting Championship in 1997, and India's first medal, weightlifting silver, in the 1998 Asian Games.

She is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour for the year 1995-1996. She is also a recipient of the civilian honour Padma Shri in 1999.Malleswari is awarded the Arjuna Award in 1994, India's highest award in sports.

Anita Sood

She is the first woman who stroked her way powerfully across the English Channel. She is a former national woman swimming champion of India. She became the fastest Asian swimmer to cross the English Channel. She was awarded Arjuna Award for her achievements.