5 Indians who have held the world record in their sport

Modified Mar 09, 2015 16:12 IST

Indians have showed time and again that they are a force to reckon with at the highest levels of a sport. Setting a world record in any discipline is not a mean achievement by any stretch of the imagination. These athletes set a benchmark for a generation of talented athletes to try and emulate and made the nation proud with their accomplishments.Let us look at 5 such Indians who did what was thought impossible.

#5 Pankaj Advani

One of the most decorated Indian cueists of all time,Pankaj Advani has several records in his name. Advani is the only Indian to have won the Amateur World title in both snooker and billiards.

The Bangalorean achieved the World record last year. He is the only person to win World titles in both snooker and billiards in all formats .

#4 Heena Sidhu

Heena Sidhu is one of the finest shooters from India. The 25-year old is the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked World No. 1.

Sidhu is only the third Indian shooter to win a gold medal at the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup when she claimed the top spot in Germany in 2013. The Punjabi girl set a new world record in the finals with a score of 203.8.

#3 Sachin Tendulkar

The batting maestro holds several records in cricket. After making his international debut at 16, Sachin Tendulkar was a consistent run getter in all formats of the game.

Considered as one of the greatest to have ever played the game, Tendulkar opened the innings in One-day international (ODI) cricket and batted at No. 4 in test matches. Former Indian captain,Tendulkar is the first batsman to score a double century in ODIs.

He holds the record for :

Most runs scored in ODIs - 18,426

Most runs scored in Tests - 15,921

Most hundreds in ODIs - 49

Most hundreds in Tests - 51

Most runs in International cricket - 34357

#2 Balbir Singh Senior

Part of three Olympic gold winning Indian hockey teams of the 50's, Balbir Singh Senior is one of the prolific goal scorers of the nation.

At the 1948 London Olympics, Singh scored a whopping six goals in India's second match against Argentina. India went to win the game 9-1. In the all important final against Britain, Singh scored the opening two goals to ease the pressure on the rest of the team. India took home the gold medal after a convincing 4-0 win.

Singh was the flag bearer for India at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He brought his A game yet again at the business end of the tournament as he scored a hattrick in India's 3-1 win over Britain in the semifinal. He backed it up by creating a new record in the Olympic finals when he scored 5 goals in India's 6-1 win against the Netherlands.

Singh was named captain for the 1956 Melbourne Games. He led from the front as he scored five goals in the opening match against Afghanistan.

His record from the 1952 games stands to this day.

#1 Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi

The experienced doubles specialists Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have a combined 27 Grand Slams under their belt. The Indian Express did not stick together as a pair due to several reasons. However, Paes and Bhupathi are owners of a unique record.

The Indian duo has the longest doubles winning streak in the history of the Davis Cup. After beating the Czech Republic pair of Martin Damm and Petr Korda in 1997, they went on to register 23 consecutive wins that ended in their last Davis Cup match win as a pair against Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares of Brazil in 2010.

Edited by Staff Editor