The first moment of glory for Indian sportswomen came at Sydney 2000 when the legendary Karnam Malleswari won bronze, making her the first Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal. The self-belief for Indian women athletes to know that they too could bring a lot of pride to the nation.
She won two bronze medals, in the women’s individual and mixed team 10m air pistol events, at the Paris 2024 Olympics. She thus became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic shooting medal
Saina Nehwal bronze at London 2012, which was India’s first medal in badminton at the Olympic Games. Said, "I want to be the best, it's not about the ranking, it's about being consistent over a period of time."
The first Indian woman boxer to win a medal at the Olympics, "People used to say that boxing is for men and not for women and I thought I will show them someday. I promised myself and proved myself."
At Tokyo 2020, PV Sindhu made it two medals in two Olympic appearances with a bronze in the women’s singles. she said "The greatest asset is a strong mind. If I know someone is training harder than I am, I have no excuses."
In Rio 2016, First Indian woman to win an Olympic wrestling medal. said "I never gave up till the end, I knew I would win if I lasted six minutes. In the final round, I had to give my maximum, I had the self-belief."
Sania said "Having Izhan is the biggest blessing I could have. He's my inspiration to get back to being fit. Making a comeback is not to prove anything. The only reason to come back was that I love playing and competing."
Mirabai Chanu has perhaps taken Indian weightlifting to the next step. A world champion in 2017, Mirabai won her second world weightlifting championships medal - a silver - at the Bogota 2022 meet.