Neeraj, Pragga, Satwik, Lakshya Sen... young sportspersons making India proud!

Hyderabad: Be it Neeraj Chopra or Indian Chess Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa, the young Indian sportspersons have made the country proud on the world stage at a young age. While 25-year-old Neeraj Chopra has once again scripted history by winning the coveted gold medal at the World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Chennai's Pragganandhha, just at 18, emerged as runner-up in the World Chess Championship and lost to Magnus Carlsen in the finals.

At 25, Neeraj Chopra's cabinet is full: Junion World Championship gold, 2018 Commonwealth Games gold, 2018 Asian Games gold, Diamond League winner, 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games gold, and now World Athletics Championship gold.

Coming to R Praggnanandhaa, who earned praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his stupendous show in the World Chess competition, was the youngest Grand Master, that India has produced.

R Praggnanandhaa has been seen as a possible successor to the five-time champion Viswanathan Anand. The Chess prodigy from Chennai first won the national U-7 title and as they say, the rest is history. At 10, Pragga, as he is fondly known, became an International Master (IM) and two years later became a Grand Master (GM).

In 2019, R Praggnanandhaa had an ELO rating of 2600 at 14. During the COVID-19 period, he continued to shine in online tournaments and only kept getting better. In 2012, he impressed in the Meltwater Champions Tour. scoring victories over a few top names. In 2022, Pragga added another feather to his illustrious cap, when he stunned Magnus Carlsen in the Airthings Masters rapid tournament and became the only third Indian after Anand and P Harikrishna to win a game against seemingly unbeatable Magnus Carlsen.

23-year-old young shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and his doubles partner Mumbai's Chirag Shetty have created a rage in the badminton world. The duo are the only men's doubles pair from India to win the coveted BWF World Tour and be ranked inside the top ten of the BWF world rankings. Satwik was also part of the men's team, which won the gold medal in the prestigious Thomas Cup. He also clinched two golds and two silvers in the Commonwealth Games - two golds in a mixed team and two golds in men's doubles in the 2018 edition held at Gold Coast and the 2022 edition held in Birmingham.

Another addition to this list is 22-year-old Almora-born Lakshya Sen, who in his short career has won the coveted World Championship bronze and also a Youth Olympics silver medal. There are many U25 Indian sportspersons, who have achieved success and brought laurels to the nation - be it in Shooting, Wrestling, or Tennis.