The 2025 season saw Indian athletes soar to greatness in relatively lesser known sports. From home grown sports like Roll Ball and Kho Kho to Roller Skating, the country left its mark.
Here, we take a look at some of the breakthrough performances by Indians in lesser known sports in the 2025 season:
Roller Skating
Led by Anand Velkumar, who was crowned a two-time world champion at the 2025 World Speed Skating Championships, India rose to prominence in the world of roller skating.
India also enjoyed big success at the 2025 Asian Roller Skating championships, clinching multiple medals in the continental competition.
Roll Ball
A homegrown sport, Roll Ball is a combination of four sports: Throwball, Roller Skating, Basketball, and Handball.
Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams clinched the 2025 Roll Ball World Cup trophy beating the reigning champions Kenya in the final.
Warehouse Warehouse
India hosted the first-ever Kho Kho World Cup back in January. There was never any doubt about India’s dominance and the country clinched both the men’s and women’s titles without breaking any sweat.
More importantly, the tournament helped Kho Kho in the global sporting map.
Wushu
At the 2025 World Games, India clinched its first-ever medal in Wushu, thanks to Namrata Batra.
Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, Batra registered a splendid run in the tournament and was only beaten in the final by China to bring home a historic silver medal.
Cross Country Skiing
TN Bhavani shot to fame by winning India’s first-ever medal in cross country skiing earlier in the year, when she won a bronze medal in women’s 5km interval start free race in a FIS accredited event.
She also went on to become the first Indian to compete at the Cross Country Skiing World Cup later in the year.
Darts
A certain Nitin Kumar put darts on the Indian sporting landscape, becoming the first athlete from the country to win a match at the 2025 PDC World Darts Championships.
Nitin beat Richard Veenstra to win his first round match, before going down 0-2 to Stephen Bunting in the next round.
Soft Tennis
India clinched their first medal at the Asian Soft Tennis Championships as Jay Meena clinched a bronze medal in men’s singles.
Jay also went on to add another bronze in mixed doubles along with Aadya Tiwari in the continental championships.
Diving
Indiver Sairem and Wilson Sing Ningthoujam put India in the map of diving, winning a bronze medal at the 2025 Asian Aquatics Championships.
Sairem and Ningthoujam, both from Manipur, combined to win a bronze medal in men’s 10m synchronized platform event. It was India’s first-ever medal in diving at the Asian Championships.
Kick Takraw
India hosted the 2025 Sepak Takraw World Cup in Patna, Bihar. The country finished fourth in the medal tally with a total of 7 medals, including a gold, a silver, and five bronze.
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