First in Indian Sports

K.D. Jadhav (Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav) won a Bronze medal in wrestling (Bantamweight) at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, becoming the first Indian to win an individual Olympic medal.

India won its first Olympic gold medal in Field Hockey at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, defeating the Netherlands in the final. India went on to dominate Olympic hockey, winning 8 gold medals between 1928 and 1980.

Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 10m Air Rifle event, scoring 700.5 in the final. He remains the only Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal in an individual event.

Sachin Tendulkar was the first Indian and second cricketer in the world (after Desmond Haynes) to score 10,000 ODI runs. He eventually became the first to score 18,000+ ODI runs.

Sachin Tendulkar became the first (and only) batsman in the world to score 100 international centuries, achieving this milestone in March 2012 against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup match.

Harbhajan Singh took the first hat-trick by an Indian bowler in Test cricket in March 2001 against Australia at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. He dismissed Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and Shane Warne.

Kapil Dev captained India to its first and historic Cricket World Cup victory in 1983, defeating the West Indies by 43 runs in the final at Lord's, London.

Sunil Gavaskar became the first Indian cricketer to play 100 Test matches in 1988. He is also the first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs and the first to score 30 centuries in Tests.

Karnam Malleswari won a Bronze medal in Weightlifting (69 kg category) at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.

Mahesh Bhupathi won the first Wimbledon title for India in 1997 (mixed doubles with Rika Hiraki). Leander Paes won in 1999 (mixed doubles with Lisa Raymond). Bhupathi is considered the first Indian Wimbledon champion.

Wilson Jones was the first Indian to win the World Amateur Billiards Championship in 1958. He successfully defended the title in 1964, establishing India's presence in cue sports on the world stage.

Vijender Singh won a Bronze medal in Middleweight boxing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, becoming the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal.

India has never qualified for or participated in the FIFA World Cup finals. India withdrew from the 1950 World Cup (the only time they qualified) due to multiple reasons including travel costs and FIFA's refusal to allow players to play barefoot.

Saina Nehwal won a Bronze medal at the 2011 BWF World Championships, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Badminton World Championships. P.V. Sindhu later became the first Indian woman World Champion in 2019.

Viswanathan Anand became the first Indian chess player to earn the Grandmaster title in 1988. He went on to become World Chess Champion five times (2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012).

India first participated in the British Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games) in 1934. Milkha Singh won multiple medals at the 1958 Commonwealth Games. India won its first CWG gold in 1934 in Hockey.

Polly Umrigar was the first Indian to score a Test double century, scoring 223 against New Zealand in Hyderabad in 1955-56. This remained India's highest individual Test score for many years.

India won its first Asian Games gold medals in Field Hockey at the inaugural 1951 Asian Games held in New Delhi. The first Asian Games were hosted by India and proved to be a landmark event in Asian sports history.

P.V. Sindhu became the first Indian woman (and first Indian) to win the BWF World Championship singles gold medal in 2019 at Basel, Switzerland, defeating Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the final.

Neeraj Chopra won gold in Javelin Throw at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (held in 2021), becoming the second Indian (after Abhinav Bindra) to win an individual Olympic gold, and the first track and field gold for India.