India is celebrating its 79th Independence Day on August 15, 2025. In the last 78 years of independence, India has achieved several historic feats in several fields and there have been several individuals
who made the nation proud at international level. In the sports field as well, there are several names who went on to become legends of their respective sport and emerged as sporting legends of the country.
If we talk about some of the greatest sportspersons in India, several names will come to mind including the likes of Major Dhyan Chand, Milkha Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Neeraj Chopra, Viswanathan Anand and many more. However, apart from the male personalities, there are also several women who went on to become superstars of the sports which are mostly dominated by men. On the special occasion of 79th Independence Day, we discuss women who redefined Indian sport.
6 Women who redefined Indian sports
Mithali Raj
Widely regarded as the first superstar of Indian women’s cricket, Mithali Raj is known for bringing out revolution in the women’s cricket team of India. In her 23-year long career, Mithali finished as all-time highest run getter across formats in women’s international cricket. She was probably the first name which came in everyone’s minds when they hear about Indian women’s cricket team. Under her captaincy, India reached the final of the Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2005 and 2017. Mithali played a big role in shaping the Indian cricket and became a legend of the sport where we talk about popular names like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli and many more.
Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza went on to become the face of Indian tennis in her legendary career from 2003 to 2023. She inspired several young and aspiring female athletes by achieving several milestones and is known for breaking gender stereotypes in sports. With 43 titles in doubles and one title in singles, Sania Mirza is among the legendary female athletes of India and has made the nation proud several times.
PV Sindhu
PV (Pusarla Venkata) Sindhu went on to become a superstar of Indian badminton, where Saina Nehwal was prominent in India over the years. While Nehwal is known as first Indian shuttler to win an Olympics medal with her bronze in London Games 2012, Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in the Olympic Games. She won the silver during the Rio Olympics in 2016. She also ended up winning bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Apart from that, PV Sindhu has also won two gold, two silver, and one bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games.
Mary Kom
Regarded as one of the greatest boxers in the world, Mary Kom went on to become legend of the sport which is mostly dominated by men and is among the few names who are considered as legends of Indian boxing. With one bronze in the Olympics and one gold in the Commonwealth Games, Mary Kom has inspired many young and aspiring female athletes despite facing several barriers and challenges from society. She is a six-time World Champion and showed everyone that the sport doesn’t require any specific gender.
PT Usha
PT Usha, a multi-time gold medallist from Asian Games 1986 in Seoul, is heralded as the one of the pioneers in Indian athletics. Her success on the track has inspired many Indian women to take up athletics during 24-year career in sprinting. Currently, PT Usha is the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Divya Deshmukh
India’s newest Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh recently ended up winning the FIDE Women’s Chess World Cup defeating Koneru Humpy in 2025. As Koneru Humpy is known as the first Indian female to reach the final of the Chess World Cup, Divya went a step ahead as she became the first India female to win the Chess World Cup at the age of 19 years. She is being looked at as a future of Indian chess.
