SPORTSPERSON OF INDIA - 1 - ANSWERS

1. A. Viswanathan Anand

Till date only three sportspersons have received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award. They are chess great Viswanathan Anand (2007), cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (2008) and mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary (posthumously in 2008).

Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) became the first grandmaster from India in 1988 and became the fourth player in history to pass the 2800 Elo mark on the FIDE rating list, after Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, a feat he first achieved in April, 2006. Anand, a five-time classical chess world champion, held the FIDE World Chess Championship from 2000 to 2002, becoming the first Asian to do so. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. He then defended his title in the World Chess Championship 2010 against Veselin Topalov and in the World Chess Championship 2012 against Boris Gelfand.

Anand was also the first recipient of the “Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award” in 1991–92, India's highest sporting honour.

2. B. Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (born 10 July 1949), the former international cricketer who played for India from 1971 to 1987, is widely regarded as one of the greatest Test batsmen and best opening batsmen in Test cricket history. Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any batsman. He held the record of 34 Test centuries for almost two decades before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar. He was the first Test batsman to score 10,000 Test runs in a career and also first to score centuries in both innings of a Test match three times.

Sunil Gavaskar made his international debut when Indian Cricket Team toured the West Indies during the 1970–71 cricket season to play 5 Test matches. After missing the first Test due to an infected fingernail, Gavaskar on his Test debut scored 65 and 67 not out in the second Test in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, hitting the winning runs which gave India its first-ever Test win over the West Indies. The following three tests saw Gavaskar ripping apart the West Indian  bowling attack having Lance Gibbs and Garry Sobers with scores 116 (his first Test Century) and 64* in the third Test in Georgetown, Guyana, and 1 and 117* in the Fourth Test in Bridgetown, Barbados and 124 and 220 in the final (fifth) Test in Trinidad to help India to its first ever series victory over the West Indies, and the only one until 2006.

Thus, he became the first Indian to aggregate more than 700 runs in a series and these 774 runs at astronomical average of 154.80 remain the most runs scored in a debut Test series by any batsman till date.

3. C. Prakash Padukone

Prakash Padukone (born 10 June 1955), former Indian badminton player, dominated the national badminton scene for almost a decade (1971–80) and put India on the sport’s international map.

Padukone won the national senior championship in 1971 at age 16, thereby becoming the youngest player to have achieved the feat. He won each successive national championship until 1979, setting a record of nine national titles in a row. In 1978, he won the singles badminton gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. In 1979, he won the "Evening of Champions" at the Royal Albert Hall, London. His greatest accomplishment came in 1980 when he became the first Indian to win the All England Championships, the world’s most prestigious annual badminton competition. The All England win catapulted Padukone to the number one world badminton ranking, making him the first Indian to achieve that status.

After retiring from the competitive badminton circuit, he along with fellow national champion Vimal Kumar founded the “Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy” in Bengaluru whose alumni include National champions such as Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat. He also served as the coach of the Indian national badminton team from 1993 to 1996. Later in 2008, he along with Geet Sethi started “Olympic Gold Quest”, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Olympic sports in India.

Padukone was awarded the Arjuna award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982 by the Government of India.

4. A. Roop Singh

Roop Singh (8 September 1908 – 16 December 1977), one of the greatest hockey players of all times was part of the celebrated Indian hockey team which won gold medals for India at 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympic Games. He was the younger brother of Dhyan Chand who is regarded as the greatest hockey player ever. Roop Singh is best remembered for his 10 goals he scored against USA (India defeated USA by score line 24 - 1) in 1932 Summer Olympics which remains till date as the record for "most number of goals scored in a single International hockey match". Roop Singh whose family was based in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, served the Indian Army and retired as a Captain.

A street in Munich was named after him following his impressive performance at the 1936 Olympics. The “Captain Roop Singh Stadium” in Gwalior, which was originally a hockey stadium before it was converted into a cricket venue in 1988 was named after Roop Singh.

A pavilion at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium is named after Sachin Tendulkar who made the history there by becoming the first cricketer to score a double century in ODI in 2010. The stadium was also the venue for the first and only day-night Ranji Trophy final in 1996. The match was played between Mumbai and Delhi over five days (with white balls) and Mumbai won on the basis of a first-innings lead.

5. B. 1960, Rome

Milkha Singh (born - 21 November 1935), also known as “The Flying Sikh” was introduced to the sprinting while serving in the Indian Army. He represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was the only Indian athlete to win an individual athletics gold medal at a Commonwealth Games (400m race in 1958 Commonwealth Games at Cardiff, Wales) until Krishna Poonia won the discus gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He also won gold medals in the 1958 (200m and 400m) and 1962 (400m and  4 x 400 m relay) Asian Games.

The race for which Singh is best remembered is his fourth-place finish in the 400 metres final at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, which he had entered as one of the favourites and led the race till the 200m mark before easing off, allowing others to pass him. Singh's fourth-place time of 45.73 secs became the Indian national record and held for almost 40 years.

“Bhaag Milkha Bhaag”, the 2013 Bollywood film was based on his autobiography, titled “The Race of My Life” co-authored by Sonia Sanwalka, his daughter.