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