Indian sports women: Stamping their authority in the world- Onkar Karandikar

Indian sports women: Stamping their authority in the world- Article by Onkar Karandikar

In the last two decades or so, Indian women have stamped their authority in the world of sports.

I am not talking only about Cricket!! Indian women have excelled in so many sports- Chess, Badminton, Tennis, Shooting, Wrestling, Boxing, Weight lifting, Gymnastics and many others. It was never easy to break the barriers of various kinds and set new records on international stage.

Most of the players come from humble backgrounds and from various parts of India. The road to this international glory is paved with so many personal sacrifices by players, their families and coaches.

Sports Infrastructure is now developing rapidly in India, but it has not happened overnight, it has taken many years of hardships and is still under developed in some sports. The struggle is very real, players do get awards and cash prizes after winning medals for India, and get the facilities in national centers once they reach a certain level, but before that, many times they have to manage on their own.

We only remember those who won tournaments and medals but those who did not, are also very important because very often they lay the foundation and the next generation that wins, had taken inspiration from earlier players those who tried and almost won it.

Let us take a look at the achievements of Indian women in sports:

Cricket:

Indian women’s cricket team - won the 50-over world cup in 2025 with strong performances from Smriti Mandhana, Jemmimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet kaur, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani and honestly every member of the team. Women’s cricket was dominated by Australia and England for many years and now Indian team is dominating.

Let us not forget the past heroes who showed the way - Mitali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Anjum Chopra.

Also, Women's Premier League (cricket) WPL is taking big steps every season, popularity of women’s cricket is increasing among fans. Not only it helps the game and players financially but also prepares young players for high pressure situations when they come to international stage.

Chess:

India women’s team won the gold medal in the in Chess Olympiad in 2024.

That team included Divya Deshmukh, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Tania Sachdev, Harika Dronavalli, Vantika Agrawal. Many of them won individual medals as well.

Divya deshmukh also created history by winning Women's Chess World Cup 2025 and she became GM instantly and also qualified for candidates tournament 2026.

Vaishali Rameshbabu is also competing in  candidates tournament. Vaishali has won the candidates tournament and she will be competing in world championship match.

Tania Sachdev is a highly successful chess commentator and International Master.

Harika Dronavalli  is also a chess GM.

Vantika Agrawal is gold medalist in chess Olympiads.

Koneru Humpy has won Women's World Rapid Chess Championship.

Tennis:

Sania Mirza reached world no.27 I tennis singles ranking and became world no.1 in doubles rankings.

She won 6 grand slam titles- 3 doubles titles and 3 mixed doubles titles.

Tennis has always been one of the hardest sports for Indian players.

Badminton:

The world of badminton was dominated by Chinese players. It was extremely difficult to break in, rise through the ranks and win medals in international tournaments.

Then came two players that put India on the map!

Saina Nehwal: she became world no.1 in singles and also won bronze medal in London Olympics 2012

PV Sindhu: She won silver medal in Rio olympics 2016 and Bronze in Tokyo Olympics 2020

In addition to this, they have won numerous international tournaments, these two made badminton popular in India and inspired so many girls to take up the sport.

Gymnastics:

Dipa Karmakar: She became the first female artistic gymnast from India to qualify for the final vault event at the Olympics. She missed out on the bronze medal, finishing fourth in the finals of the event.

Shooting:

Anjali Bhagwat: She became the World Number One in 10m Air Rifle, won gold medal in world cup and numerous medals in other international tournaments.

Manu Bhaker: She won 2 bronze medals in 2024 Paris Olympics in Women's 10m air pistol and mixed 10m air pistol. She famously quoted ‘Focus on karma, not on the outcome of the karma’. She had overcome the loss from earlier Olympics where she had pistol malfunction. 

Weightlifting:

Mirabai Chanu: She won Silver medal Women's 49 kg in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

A new Olympic record was registered by her with a successful lift of 115 kg in clean and jerk.

Karnam Malleswari: She became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Olympics in 2000 in Sydney.

Boxing:

Mary Kom: Won bronze medal in Women's flyweight in  2012 London Olympics.

Lovlina Borgohain: Won Bronze medal in Women's welterweight in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Wrestling:

Sakshi Malik: Won Bronze medal in Women's freestyle 58 kg in 2016 Rio Olympics.

Phogat sisters- Geeta, Babita, Vinesh have won so many international medals for India.

Golf: 

Aditi Ashok was in medal contention in 2020 Tokyo Olympics, missed out on historic medal very narrowly and finished 4th. 

       Here in this article, I have only touched upon the achievements of Indian women in various sports, but so much more can be written about journey of each of those champions. Also there are so many names still there that I might not have mentioned above, but have worked hard and won trophies and medals for India. All these winners in international tournaments like world cups, commonwealth and Asian games and Olympics, they inspire so many young kids to take up sports and in a way lay ground for next generation of winners!

- Onkar Karandikar