Who is the first Indian Woman to win an Individual Olympic Medal?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Karnam Malleshwari. At the Sydney 2000 Olympics she won the bronze medal in women's weightlifting (69 kg category), becoming the first Indian woman ever to win an Olympic medal. Every other Indian woman on this list won her medal later, so Malleshwari holds the 'first' distinction.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) A celebrated tennis player with multiple Grand Slam doubles titles, but she has never won an Olympic medal.  (c) A great badminton champion, but her medals came later — silver at Rio 2016 and bronze at Tokyo 2020 — well after Malleshwari's 2000 medal. (Sindhu is the first Indian woman with two Olympic medals, not the first medallist.)  (d) Won badminton bronze at London 2012 — again after 2000; she was the first Indian to win an Olympic badminton medal, but not the first Indian woman medallist overall.

Concept: This is a 'firsts' question in Indian Olympic history, restricted to individual (non-team) medals. Karnam Malleshwari's 2000 weightlifting bronze was the first by any Indian woman. For context, K. D. Jadhav (wrestling bronze, Helsinki 1952) was independent India's first individual Olympic medallist overall, and Abhinav Bindra (Beijing 2008) won the first individual gold.

State PCS 2020 Q13 — Current Affairs & Sports PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q13 — Current Affairs & Sports PYQ with Answer