Top 8 highly educated Indian sportspersons

Sports can turn out to be career choice, especially in a country like India. With a population of more than a billion – thousands of whom at some point or other in their life wish to be a sportsperson and represent the country at the global level, there is no certainty that you will succeed.

Under such circumstances, it also becomes necessary for the athletes to have a backup plan in case their career in sports fails to take off. Many of the top Indian athletes realised this pretty early in their lives and have went on to achieve some high educational qualifications. Here, we look at some Indian sportspersons who hold strong educational degree:

Talimeren Ao

Talimeren Ao (first from left)

Talimeren Ao was the first captain of the Indian football team. A footballer and a doctor, he wore both hats with ease. Mohun Bagan Captain and Captain of the India Team, he was the flag-bearer of the Indian Olympic contingent at the 1948 London Games. He pursued MBBS and graduated in 1950. He bid farewell to Kolkata, and to Mohun Bagan, who had offered him a plot in the city which he refused. He joined the ENT department, at the Dibrugarh Medical College, Assam.

Manasi Joshi

The Para-badminton world champion from India, is a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering from K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering affiliated to University of Mumbai. Manasi, in fact, used to work as a software engineer before an unfortunate accident left her amputated and propelled her into the world of Para-badminton.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

SATHIYAN GNANASEKARAN of Dabang Delhi T.T.C.

The face of Indian table tennis revolution and a new age star of Indian table tennis, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran holds the degree of Bachelor in Information Technology from St. Joseph’s College of Engineering in Chennai.

Read: I was going to be an engineer. Table Tennis found me. | By Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Sharad Kumar

Source: Sharad Kumar/Facebook

One of the lesser known names in this list, Sharad Kumar is an Indian Para-athlete who excels in the sport of High Jump. Paralysed early in his life due to a polio injection, this young man from Patna has a Masters degree in Political Science with a specialisation in International Relations from the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi.

Heena Sidhu

Heena Sidhu Gold World Cup Final 2013

Heena Sidhu is an ace shooter of India. She became the 1st Indian pistol shooter to reach number one in world rankings by the International Shooting Sport Federation(ISSF) on 7 April 2014. In 2013 she won the 10 meter air pistol event where her score was 203.8 and became the first Indian pistol shooter who won a gold medal in an ISSF world cup. Heena Sidhu received a Bachelor of Dental Surgery in 2013.

Shikha Tandon

Shikha Tandon at the 2004 Athens Olympics

A champion swimmer with more than 140 national medals and over 35 international medals, Shikha Tandon holds a dual Masters degree in Biology and Biotechnology from the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, USA.

Shikha Pandey

Shikha Pandey Source: ICC)

A cricket star and one of the fastest bowlers produced by India, Shikha Pandey boasts of a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from Goa College of Engineering in Veling.

Abhishek Verma

Image: Sportsbeatsindia

The new found shooting sensation of India, Abhishek Verma, was drawn towards the sport pretty late in his life. Before taking up the sport of shooting seriously, Verma had acquired a Bachelor degree in Computer Science. Along with his B.Tech degree, Abhishek holds a degree in law and has been contemplating pursuing cybercrime and also criminal cases