India’s Young Sports Stars

August 16, 2022

Yash Dhull

Yash Dhull is a Delhi born Indian cricketer and captain of the under-19 (U19) Indian cricket team. In February this year, under his captaincy, the team defeated England to win the U19 World Cup 2022 in the West Indies. He scored a century in the 2022 semi-final against Australia, winning the team a place in the finals. After Virat Kohli and Unmukt Chand, Dhull is only the third Indian captain to have scored a century in the U19 World Cup. He also led the Indian team that won the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) U19 Asia Cup in 2021. The 19-year-old made his debut for Delhi in the 2021-2022 Ranji Trophy in February, where he scored a century in both innings against Tamil Nadu.

Rahul Srivatshav

19-year-old Rahul Srivatshav became the 74th grandmaster of India after he broke the barrier of 2500 Elo points in the Federation Internationale des Eches (FIDE) ratings during the Cattolica Chess Festival 2022 held in Italy in June. Srivatshav attained the 2500 points milestone after his eight-round game against Grandmaster Levan Pantsulaia from Georgia was drawn at the tournament. Srivatshav had already acquired five grandmaster norms before this, leading him to win the grandmaster title. He secured the International Master (IM) ranking in January 2018 at the age of 15. Srivatshav hails from Hyderabad in Telangana. He is the fourth grandmaster from Telangana after Arjun Erigaisi, Harsha Bharathakoti and Raja Rithvik.

Jeakson Singh Thounaojam

Jeakson Singh Thounaojam is an Indian footballer. He is a defensive midfielder by position and plays for the Kerala Blasters club in the Indian Super League (ISL). He has also represented India internationally. In 2017, he scored a goal against Colombia, which was India’s only goal in the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Under-17 World Cup held in India. This was also the first goal scored by any Indian in a major FIFA tournament. He was signed by the Kerala Blasters team in 2018. He played an important role in guiding his side to the final in the 2021-2022 ISL. In April, he signed an extension contract and will play for the Kerala Blasters till 2025. Thounaojam hails from Thoubal district in Manipur. He was trained at the Chandigarh Football Academy in Chandigarh and Minerva Academy in Mohali, Punjab.

Rushil Khosla

Rushil Khosla is a 16-year-old Indian tennis player from Noida. He led the Indian junior team in the Junior Davis Cup 2022 qualifying event that was held in Malaysia in April. He played a major role in the event where the national side won in the Asia-Oceania region for the first time and qualified for the Junior Davis Cup. Khosla, who is a trainee at the RoundGlass Tennis Academy in Chandigarh, had secured the Asia number one rank at the age of 12 in the under-14 category and also became the highest ranked Indian player in the under-16 age group. He was presented with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Shakti Puraskar in 2020 for his outstanding tennis achievements, making him the first Indian junior tennis player to receive this honour. He is in the top 200 on the International Tennis Federation Junior Rankings list.

Ridhi Phor

Ridhi Phor is an archer from Karnal in Haryana who has won multiple medals on the international stage. She won a bronze medal in the women’s recurve team and mixed team events in her first senior international competition in the Asia Cup stage 2 in Manila, Philippines back in 2018. She won a gold medal in the girl’s recurve event in the Khelo India Youth Games in June. 18-year-old Phor also won a gold medal in the mixed recurve event along with Tarundeep Rai in the Archery World Cup stage 1 held in Turkey in April. She then won a bronze medal along with her teammates Ankita Bhagat and Komalika Bari in the women’s team event at the Archery World Cup stage 2 in South Korea in May. With these achievements, she has secured herself a spot in the Asian Games 2022, which will take place from September 10 onwards in Hangzhou, China.

DID YOU KNOW?

India won 61 medals at the Commonwealth Games 2022, putting it among the top five countries in the medal tally. The medals include 22 golds, 16 silvers and 23 bronzes; this is the largest gold medal haul ever in Indian Commonwealth Games history. Squash champion, 14-year-old Anahat Singh was the youngest member of the Indian contingent this year.