66 years of independence - 6 of India’s greatest sports personalities who won hearts globally

1) Sachin Tendulkar – Does he need any introduction?

Living up to the expectations of one billion people for over two decades is a Herculean task for any cricketer, but he rarely disappointed. Plus, more than 15,000 runs in Tests and ODIs grabbed the attention of Barack Obama, who famously said that USA’s productivity reduced by 5% when Sachin was batting! He is the second most popular Indian globally perhaps after Shahrukh Khan.

2) Dhyan Chand – Sachin Tendulkar in cricket = Dhyan Chand in hockey. Having scored more than 400 goals from 1928-1948, Chand was known as ‘The Wizard’. His amazing ball control was so reliable that India was virtually guaranteed victory, when he was playing.

His fame had reached Australia (where Don Bradman was stunned by his hockey), and Germany especially (where Hitler actually offered him German citizenship and an army rank!)

3) Pullela Gopichand – He was a product of Prakash Padukone’s school of badminton and is India’s best ever. He has not only won the National Championship 5 times, but also won at least once in Sri Lanka, France, Scotland and ultimately England. If Indian badminton has a face to show today with the start of the IBL, it is purely because of this man who is a godfather for youngsters such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Jwala Gutta.

4) Milkha Singh – An inspirational Hindi biopic on him had recently released. ‘The Flying Sikh’ title was given to him by Pakistan President, Ayub Khan in 1960 after completely dominating a race in Lahore. He is the only Indian with an Olympic gold in athletics so far. Besides, he had also won the Commonwealth Games and the Tokyo Asian games gold medal in 1958. No Indian athlete has won as many races as him, and that too on foreign soil.

5) Vishwanathan Anand – The 5 time World Chess champion; this was the man who overtook Gary Kasporov as the greatest player of them all. His versatility is his USP. He is the only sportsperson to have been invited for a diplomatic dinner in India in 2010, meeting Obama. Anand has also caught eyeballs in Russia and Germany, where most of his competitors hail from.

6) Harsha Bhogle – Bhogle is a pioneer for an Indian with no cricketing background whatsoever, making a career in sports broadcasting. A rare combination of eloquence, grace, confidence, and intelligence is present in his voice, diction and speech. He has authored 2 books, is widely known in cricketing countries due to his presence on espncricinfo.com and is the first cricket commentator in the world to have a fan club. That too in Pakistan! There simply cannot be a greater tribute to him than this.