# List of Marathi people in sports

This page is a list of Marathi sportspersons.

## Cricketers

* Aavishkar Salvi – Is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-arm medium-pace bowler and right-handed batsman. In first class cricket, he plays for Mumbai.
* Ajinkya Rahane – Is a right-handed batsman, who represents India, He is one of the only 11 players to have scored more than 1000 runs in a single Ranji Trophy season
* Ajit Agarkar – Has a record of fastest 50 scored, 2nd fastest ODI wickets, has 288 ODI wickets under his belt
* Ajit Wadekar – He becoming the first Indian captain to achieve series victories on tours to the West Indies and in England
* Anshuman Gaekwad – He was known for his defensive mindset against pace bowlers, which became a high priority when the West Indian pace bowlers dominated world cricket. He was nicknamed The Great Wall
* Bapu Nadkarni – He bowled 21 maiden overs in succession. The record for most consecutive balls without conceding a run is held by Hugh Tayfield of South Africa
* Baloo Gupte – Was a leg-spinner, made his debut under Nari Contractor in 1960–61 against Pakistan led by Fazal Mahmood
* Chandrakant Pandit – He played in 5 Tests and 36 ODIs from 1986 to 1992. He became a cricket coach, enjoying successful stints with the Mumbai cricket team
* Chandrasekhar Gadkari – He made a fine impression as a fielder in the 1952/53 tour to West Indies in an Indian side that was noted for its fielding
* Chandrakant Patankar – He was a wicketkeeper and lower-order right-handed batsman
* Chandu Borde – He made his debut in the First Test during the West Indies tour of India, received the Arjuna Award, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan
* Dhawal Kulkarni – Is an Indian first class cricketer, he plays for Mumbai and in the Indian Premier League, he plays for Mumbai Indians
* Dattu Phadkar – Was an all-rounder who represented India in Test cricket
* Dattaram Hindlekar – Toured England in 1936 and 1946 as India's first choice wicket-keeper
* Dilip Sardesai – His important century of 112 in the next Test at Port of Spain led to India's first victory over West Indies
* Dilip Vengsarkar – He was one of the most stylish batsmen of his time, he a nickname 'Colonel', received the Arjuna Award in 1981, Padma Shri honour in 1987
* Eknath Solkar – Renowned for his excellent close fielding, 53 catches in only 27 matches is the best ratio of any non-keeper with 20 or more Tests, responsible for one of cricket's most celebrated quotes, directed at Geoffrey Boycott: I will out you bloody
* Hemu Adhikari – He helped guide India to their first series win in England in 1971
* Hemant Kanitkar – Is an Indian first class cricketer, represented India in Tests in 1974
* Hrishikesh Kanitkar – He scored prolifically for the Maharashtra cricket team in the Ranji Trophy to bring himself into contention for national selection
* Abhijit Kale – prolific domestic run getter, played for India in one day international.
* Kedar Jadhav – He is a right-handed middle-order batsman
* Khandu Rangnekar – Started his first class career in the Bombay Pentangular and scored a hundred in his first appearance in the Ranji Trophy, played for India in 1947–48
* Kiran More – Was the wicket-keeper for the Indian cricket team, he was the Chairman of the Selection Committee of the BCCI
* Lisa Sthalekar – Australian women cricketer of Indian origin
* Manohar Hardikar – Was an Indian Test cricketer, he captained Mumbai in twelve matches, winning five and drawing the rest
* Nilesh Kulkarni – Was only Indian to take a wicket with the very first ball that he bowled in Test cricket, and 12th bowler in the history of the game
* Poonam Raut – Indian women cricketer
* Pravin Amre – Is an Indian cricketer, is the current coach of the Mumbai cricket team
* Ramesh Powar – He played a large role in Mumbai's successful 2002–03 season in the Ranji Trophy
* Rahul Dravid – He is the First Indian to have scored 10000 runs at no 3 position
* Ramnath Parkar – Was an Indian cricketer who played in Tests in 1972
* Ramakant Achrekar – In 1990, he was honoured with the Dronacharya Award for his services to cricket coaching
* Salil Ankola – He was the first player to hit a sixer on the first ball of the match, he did so on to Pakistani legend Imran Khan
* Sameer Dighe – Was an Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper
* Sanjay Bangar – He scored 100 not out against Zimbabwe at Nagpur batting at number 7
* Subhash Gupte – He was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers pronounced him the best leg spinner that it had been his pleasure to see
* Sachin Tendulkar – He is the First Indian to score 100 Internationals 100's in the game of cricket
* Sairaj Bahutule – Is an Indian cricketer. He is an allrounder who specialises in leg-spinbowling
* Sandeep Patil – Is a former Indian cricketer, also former Kenya national team coach, who made the minnows reach the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup
* Sanjay Manjrekar – His first notable performance at the international level came in the 1989 series against the West Indies in the West Indies.
* Sunil Gavaskar – Is the First Indian to aggregate more than 700 runs in a series, and this 774 runs at 154.80 remains the most runs scored in a debut series by any batsman
* Ruturaj Gaikwad – Is Indian cricketer, Captained team India in 2020 Asian Games and won Gold medal, First Indian to score a T20I century vs Australia, leads Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League.
* Vinod Kambli – He made two double-centuries and two centuries in seven tests
* Vijay Hazare – Is a former Indian cricketer, becoming the First Indian player to complete 1000 Test Runs
* Vijay Manjrekar – Former Indian cricketer who played 55 Tests, holds the records for the most test runs scored without hitting a single six
* Sushil Nadkarni – Indian-American cricketer
* Paras Mhambrey – 2 Tests and 1 ODI
* Abey Kuruvilla – 10 Tests and 25 ODI's
* Rohan Gavaskar – 11 ODI's India

## Badminton

* Nandu Natekar – The First Indian to win a title abroad – the Men's singles in the Selangor International Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 1956, the First Arjuna Award winner
* Nikhil Kanetkar – Badminton Player
* Aditi Mutatkar – She was a Semifinalist Croatia open 2008 and Pre quarter finalist in Yonex sunrise Indian open – Hyderabad in 2008
* Damayanti Tambay – Four times national champion
* Sukant Kadam - Professional Para badminton Player. Many International Gold Medal winner. Former World no 2.
* Nilesh Gaikwad - Professional Para badminton Player. Asian Youth Games Dubai 2017 Silver Medalist. Uganda Para Badminton International 2017 Gold Medalist.

## Chess

* Pravin Thipsay - GM (1997)
* Abhijit Kunte - GM (2000)
* Swati Ghate - WGM (2004)
* Rucha Pujari - WIM (2017), previously WFM (2006)
* Vidit Gujrathi - GM (2013)
* Raunak Sadhvani - GM (2020)
* Swapnil Dhopade - GM (2016)
* Abhimanyu Puranik - GM (2017)
* Akshayraj Kore - GM (2013)
* Sagar Shah - IM (2014)
* Soumya Swaminathan - IM (2020) and WGM (2008)
* Divya Deshmukh - WIM (2020)

## Bodybuilding

* Suhas Khamkar
* Sangram Chougule

## Rifle & Pistol Shooting

* Anjali Bhagwat - Four gold medal winner at Manchester Commonwealth games 2002
* Tejaswini Sawant – First Indian woman shooter to win gold at the World Championships. Gold medalist at Commonwealth Games at Melbourne.
* Rahi Sarnobat – Gold medal winner at Delhi Commonwealth 2010

## Football

* Mahesh Gawli – India national football team member
* Sameer Naik – India national football team member
* Brahmanand Sankhwalkar – Prominent soccer player
* Ramchandra Parab – Footballer who played for India in the 1948 Olympics in England
* Raju Gaikwad - India national football team member
* Mandar Rao Desai

## Long Distance running

* Kavita Raut – Is a long-distance runner, holds current Indian National record for 10 km road running with a mark of 34:32, set at the Sunfeast World 10K in Bangalore
* Lalita Babar - She predominantly competes in the 3000 metres steeplechase and is the current Indian national record holder and the reigning Asian Champion in the same event.

## Mountaineering

* Ashish Mane - First Maharashtrian to climb four of the fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) above sea level.
* Krushnaa Patil – Second Youngest Indian to climb Mt. Everest at the age of 19, First Maharashtrian woman to climb Mt. Everest

## Wrestlers

* Khashaba Jadhav – First Olympic medal for India in 1952
* Rahul Aware
* Maruti Mane
* Ganpat Andhalkar
* Harishchandra Birajdar

## Field Hockey

* Tushar Khandekar – Hockey Forward, often referred to as "The Goal Poacher" $^{[1]}$
* Bandu Patil - Tokyo Olympics 1964
* Shantaram Jadhav - Rome Olympics 1960
* Govind Sawant - Rome Olympics 1960

## Parachute Jump

* Shital Mahajan - Skydiver, the Government of India honored with Padma Shri in 2011.

## Swimming

* Murlikant Petkar - Swimmer, First Paralympic medal for India, gold medal in 1972 Summer Paralympics.
* Virdhawal Khade - Swimmer, India's fastest swimmer, Olympian

## Tennis

* Gaurav Natekar
* Prarthana Thombare