India is celebrating its 79th Independence Day, and on this auspicious occasion, it's time to know the fact that when the country broke the shackles to gain freedom from the British empire, it was unimaginable
for anyone to think that India will emerge as a major power in the sporting world. With poverty reigning the massive population, the Indian government's priority was to focus on stabilising the economy which was gasping.
Developing sports infrastructure wasn't something the government was thinking to develop. However, despite all odds, people from the country rose and went on to scintillate India's name on colossal stages. On the occasion of the 79th independence, SportsTiger is visiting India's sensational achievements in the sports world.
79 Glorious moments in Indian sports after independence
1. July 23, 1952
KD Jadhav emerged as India’s first individual Olympics medal winner, with his bronze achievement at Helsinki Olympics in 1952.
2. March 7, 1951
Sachin Nag became India's first gold medal winner at the Asian Games in 1951.
3. July 24, 1952
India retained the title after beating Holland in the Olympic Hockey Championships.
4. December 19, 2010
Sachin Tendulkar racked up a ton against South Africa in Centurion and became the first international Test batter to score 50 centuries.
5. 1967-68
India claimed their first-ever overseas Test series triumph in New Zealand.
6. March 11, 1971
Team India's maiden red-ball series victory in West Indies came under Ajit Wadekar's leadership.
7. 1980
Prakash Padukone won All England Badminton Open.
8. 1982
India's maiden major achievement came in golf by pulling off gold in the Asian Games.
9. June 25, 1983
India won their maiden Cricket World Cup title under Kapil Dev's captaincy.
10. March 10, 1985
Team India won Benson & Hedges World Championship in Australia.
11. September 25, 1986
Khajan Singh claimed gold at the Asian Games 1986.
12. March 7, 1987
Sunil Gavaskar emerged as the first international batter to notch up 10000 Test runs.
13. 1994
Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian to win gold in Weightlifting World Championships.
14. 1996
Leander Paes bagged the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics.
15. 1998
India's football team won the gold medal in Asian Games after beatig Iran in the final.
16. February 7, 1999
Anil Kumble grabbed 10 wickets against Pakistan in a Test innings in 1999.
17. September 19, 2000
Karnam Malleswari became India's first-ever woman Olympic medallist by winning a bronze in Sydney.
18. August 30, 2003
Anju Bobby George clinched the bronze medal in long jump at the IAAF World Championships 2003.
19. March 6, 2005
Narain Karthikeyan scripted history with his Formula 1 (F1) debut in 2005. With his maiden appearance, he became India’s first F1 racer.
20. June 2, 2006
Geet Sethi became the Billiards World Champion for the fifth time in 2006.
21. September 24, 2007
India won the maiden T20 World Cup edition in 2007.22. April 18, 2008
The first-ever IPL match was held between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
23. August 11, 2008
Abhinav Bindra won India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold in 2008.
24. December 6, 1956
Indian hockey team won sixth consecutive Olympic gold in the 1956 Melbourne installment.
25. July 24, 1958
Milkha Singh beat Abdul Khaliq of Pakistan in the 200-metre race and won the first individual gold for India at the 1958 Commonwealth Games.
26. August 19, 1971
In Ajit Wadekar's captaincy, India won their first Test series in England.
27. July 28, 1960
Ramanathhan Krishnan became the first Indian to qualifty for the semi-finals of a Grand Slam event at Wimbledon.
28. September 24, 1962
Indian men’s football team won the gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Games 1962.
29. October 23, 1964
Indian hockey team defeated Pakistan to bag another gold at the Olympics in 1964.
30. 1964
Jeremy Bujakowski became the first Indian athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics.
31. December 14, 1970
Kamaljeet Sandhu won the 400m gold at the Bangkok Asian Games.
32. 2008
India won their first ODI tri-series in Australia in 2008.
33. September 12, 1974
T.C. Yohannan won the gold medal in long jump at the Tehran Asian Games.
34. 1978
Michael Ferreira became the first player to cross 1000 points barrier in National Billiards Championship.
35. July 29, 1980
Indian hockey team beat Spain to win gold at the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
36. 1998
Shiva Keshavan became the youngest person overall and first Indian to qualify for the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1988.
37. March 16, 2012
Sachin Tendulkar hammered a hundred against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2012 match played in Dhaka and broke into the record books as the only batter to notch up 100 centuries in international cricket.
38. December 24, 2000
Viswanathan Anand became the first Asian to emerge triumphant in the World Chess Championships.
39. March 11, 2001
Pullela Gopichand won All England Championships, and he became the second Indian to win the title.
40. 2002
Indian women's hockey team won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
41. August 25, 2002
Shooter Anjali Vedpathak won the "Champion of Champions" title in the Munich World Cup 2002 final.
42. August 14, 2004
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won India’s first Olympic shooting medal. He pulled off a silver in double trap at the Athens edition.
43. December 7-8, 2006
Jaspal Rana won three golds and a silver medal at the Asian Games played in Doha.
44. August 22, 2008
Vijender Singh won bronze medal in 75-kg boxing category at the Beijing Olympics.
45. 2009
Sania Mirza became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title in tennis.
46. February 24, 2010
Sachin Tendulkar became the first international batter to notch up 200 in ODIs.
47. October, 2010
India hosted the Commonwealth Games for the first time in history.
48. 2010
Ashish Kumar won India’s first gymnastics medals at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
49. April 2, 2011
India won the World Cup 2011 under MS Dhoni's captaincy.
50. April 14, 2011
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the bronze medal in the World Badminton Championships 2011.
51. July 29, 2012
Gagan Narang won the bronze medal at the London Olympics in 10m air rifle category.52. August 3, 2012
Vijay Kumar won the silver medal at the London Olympics in 25m rapid fire pistol segment.
53. August 9, 2012
Saina Nehwal won bronze at the London Olympics and became the first Indian badminton player win an Olympic medal.
54. August 8, 2012
Mary Kom won bronze in boxing at the London Olympics 2012.
55. June 23, 2013
India won their second Champions Trophy title in 2013.
56. 2015
Sania Mirza became World Number 1 in 2015 in women’s doubles tennis.
57. August 14, 2016
Dipa Karmarkar secured historic fourth-place finish at the Rio Olympics in the women's vault.
58. August 17, 2016
Sakshi Malik won the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics and became first Indian female wrestler to win an Olympic medal.
59. March 29, 2004
Virender Sehwag hammered 309 against Pakistan in the Multan Test and became India's first Test batter to score 300.
60. December, 2016
Karun Nair played an unbeaten 303-run knock against England in 2016 and became the second India batter to hit 300 in Tests.
61. April 14, 2008
Manika Batra won India’s first table tennis gold in women’s singles at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
62. 2018
India won their first ODI bilateral series on South African soil.
63. 1982
India claimed their first overseas ODI series victory with the success against England by 2-1 in a three-match competition in 1982.
64. January, 2019
India, under Virat Kohli's captaincy, won their maiden Test series on Australian soil.
65. August 26-28, 2019
GM Koneru Humpy became the women’s world rapid chess champion in 2019.
66. January 19, 2021
India bagged a historic Test win against Australia at the Gabba in 2021, to secure back-to-back 2-1 Test series result down under.
67. July 24, 2021
Mirabai Chanu won silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in July 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
68. August 1, 2021
PV Sindhu won bronze in Tokyo Olympics and became first Indian woman to win two consecutive individual Olympic medals.69. August 4, 2021
Lovlina Borgohain won bronze in 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
70. August 5, 2021
India defeated Germany to win men’s hockey Olympic bronze, their first podium finish in 41 years.
71. August 5, 2021
Ravi Kumar Dahiya won the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
72. August 7, 2021
Neeraj Chopra won India maiden athletics gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
73. August 7, 2021
Bajrang Punia won the bronze medal on debut at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
74. June 29, 2025
Team India, under Rohit Sharma's leadership, won the T20 World Cup 2024 held in the USA and West Indies.75. July 30, 2024
Manu Bhaker won the second bronze medal in shooting at the Paris Olympics 2024.
76. March 9, 2025
Rohit Sharma guided Team India to their third Champions Trophy title.
77. July 29, 2025
Divya Deshmukh made history by winning the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 in Batumi, Georgia.
78. 2009
India won their first ODI series on New Zealand's soil in 2009.
79. September 30, 2002
India and Sri Lanka became joint Champions Trophy winners in 2002.
