Sakshi Malik became the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal.
Here are the list of Indians who brought laurels to the country in the various fields in 2016.- 16-year-old Indian environmental activist, Kehkashan Basu won 2016's prestigious International Children's Peace Prize for her fight for climate justice and combating environmental degradation in The Hague on December 2. When Kehkashan was eight, she started educating neighbours on the importance of saving the environment. She planted her first tree and brought together children to collect and recycle waste, according to KidsRights Foundation that has instituted the award. (Photo: AFP)
- Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra's global popularity is growing day by day after she worked in international projects, like the television series Quantico' and the film Baywatch'. That was perhaps the reason why she was recently appointed global ambassador for UNICEF. Not just social brands, even commercial brands seem to keen on signing Priyanka for their projects. The actress has now been named the global brand ambassador of the popular brand Pantene. The actress has joined popular celebrities like Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding and Gisele Bündchen who are also a part of the brand and their new campaign. (Photo: PTI)
- Man Kaur from India needed almost a minute-and-a-half to cross the finish line in the 100-meter dash, but she still picked up a gold medal at the American Masters Games. That's because the 100-year-old Kaur was the only female competitor in her age category at the competition for older athletes. Singh, 78, who also is competing in the Games, said he encouraged his mother to start running at age 93 because he knew she could become a star. (Photo: AP)
- Indian American physicist Surjeet Rajendran was among the recipients of the $25 million Breakthrough Prizes', which is dubbed as the Oscars of Science', and awarded annually to physicists, life sciences researchers and mathematicians. Surjeet Rajendran graduated from Caltech in 2004 with a degree in mathematics and subsequently pursued a Ph. D. in Physics from Stanford (graduated 2009). He was the Madansky postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins and is presently the Henry Shenker Professor of Physics. He joined the UC Berkeley Physics Department in July 2014. (Photo: Twitter)
- Two Indian-origin businessmen have been ranked by Forbes magazine among the richest entrepreneurs in America under the age of 40, a list that has been topped by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Vivek Ramaswamy, 30, a former hedge fund manager, has been ranked 33rd on the list with a net worth of $500 million. Forbes said his source of wealth is investments. On the 40th spot is 29-year old Apoorva Mehta, the founder and CEO of Instacart, the web-based grocery delivery service. Mr Mehta's net worth is $400 million. (Photo: Twitter)
- Sakshi not only scripted history by becoming the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal, she also became the first to win a medal for the country at the Rio Games. Fighting back from 0-5 down to beat Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan 8-5 in the dying minutes of the bronze medal play-off match in women's 58kg freestyle, Sakshi ended India's painful wait at the 2016 Rio Olympics for a medal and immediately sent the nation of 1.2 billion into euphoria. (Photo: AP)
- Rohit Khandelwal became the first Indian to win the coveted title of Mr World 2016 at the grand finale of the Mr World competition held at the Southport Theatre & Convention Centre in Southport, UK. The 26-year-old model-actor from Hyderabad defeated 46 contestants from across the globe to be crowned the first Indian winner. Khandelwal, who looked dapper in a tuxedo by designer Nivedita Saboo, received a cash prize of USD 50,000 on winning this celebrated title. (Photo: Facebook)
- Captain Radhika Menon became the first woman captain of the Indian Merchant Navy to receive the IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea. Radhika received the award for her exceptional bravery at Sea for her role in the dramatic rescue of seven fishermen from a sinking fishing boat in tumultuous seas in the Bay of Bengal in June 2016. (Photo: PTI)
- PV Sindhu's gallant attempt to win a coveted gold medal for India ended in heart-break when she went down fighting against Spain's Carolina Marin and settled for a silver medal in the women's singles badminton competition at the Rio Olympics. The 21-year-old Indian, who has been simply unstoppable in the tournament so far, crumbled under the tremendous pressure created by the two-time World Champion from Spain to lose 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in a high-intensity final that lasted for an hour and 23 minutes. (Photo: AP)
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the online reader's poll for TIME Person of the Year 2016 in December, beating out other world leaders like US President-elect Donald Trump, incumbent US leader Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Modi won with 18 per cent of the vote, getting significantly more votes than his closest contenders, including Obama, Trump and Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange, who all received 7 per cent of the 'yes' vote. Modi was also placed far ahead of other prominent figures of this year, like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (2 per cent) and US Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (4 per cent), Time said. (Photo: PTI)
Here are the list of Indians who brought laurels to the country in the various fields in 2016.
Sakshi Malik became the first woman wrestler from India to bag an Olympic medal.
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