Most Indian teenagers may be worried about their next exam or about how their next date is going to go, but there is an elite group of youngsters with dreams much bigger, who have worked incredibly hard for sporting glory and have their eyes on the biggest goal of them all an Olympics medal. This is about seven of them.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi (14 years)
The baby-faced destroyer from Mithila. At just 14, he made the Indian Under-19 team and the IPL league and did not just play; he crushed oppositions. He has broken numerous records already, being the youngest player to debut in the IPL and also the second fastest IPL century in just 35 balls. In 18 matches in T20s, he has a formidable average of 41. A fearless player whose playing style features powerful drives and huge sixes, he is a player born for T20 cricket.
Probably the only reason he is not in the senior squad is that he is underage for international inclusion, with the ICC having put a 15-year minimum restriction. By the time LA 2028 comes around, he will be just 16, but there is little doubt that his explosive batting will feature in the Indian team, especially if he continues the way he has begun. With the Indian team being the highest-rated men’s T20 team in the world, there is a high probability he may feature in the team and also win an Olympic medal.
Chances of medal: High
Suruchi Inder Singh (19 years)
If there has been an explosive debut in global events in 2025 in the sport of shooting, it has been the young Suruchi Singh. The world looked at her in shock and awe as she won an incredible four gold medals in four World Cups three individual and one team. The only major medal she missed was the World Championship, where she did not reach the finals, a rare miss in an exemplary year. She then made up for it by winning the World Cup Final in the 10 m pistol event.
Jaspal Rana, the high-performance coach of Indian shooting, has said, “Shooters who learn to control finals pressure early tend to have longer Olympic careers,” something he believes is already visible in Suruchi Singh’s approach. This was proven by her five gold medals at major international meets. Shooting is a sport of hairline margins, but there seems to be little doubt that Suruchi Inder Singh is a very bright prospect for a 10 m air pistol medal at LA.
Chances of medal: Medium
Aditi Swami (18 years)
For a girl of 12 who started her training in archery under the formidable coach Pravin Sawant in a sugarcane field, Aditi Swami’s rise has been meteoric. In 2022, at the Asian Games, she won a gold medal in the women’s team category in compound archery. Then in 2023, she shook the archery world by winning a double gold medal in the compound discipline at the Archery World Championships. She became the youngest world champion in the women’s compound event at just 17. In fact, in 2023 she had the rare distinction of holding both the youth and senior women’s titles.
Read Articles Without Ads On Your IndiaSportsHub App. Download Now And Stay Updated
While her pedigree and talent are prodigious already, the biggest challenge to her participation at LA 2028 would come from her team members. There is a single event in the compound at the LA Games, which is the mixed pairs, and there can be only one woman player selected from India. The competition for that single place is going to be brutal. There is both Parneet Kaur and the truly awesome Jyothi Surekha Vennam, “The Venom” herself. Jyothi has been the most storied women’s compound archer from India, with eight World Championship medals. But if Aditi can win the single place, she will very likely medal, as India is ranked number one in the world in the mixed compound event.
Chances of medal: Medium
Koyel Bar (Weightlifting) – 18 years
If Indian weightlifting in the last decade has held a place on the world stage, it is because of the girl from Nongpok Mirabai Chanu Saikhom. In fact, in the last two Olympics, she has been the only Indian to qualify in weightlifting.
But is there a new name on the horizon, a new Indian weightlifter who can shine on the world stage? In the last year, the name on every Indian weightlifting fan’s lips is that of Koyel Bar. At the 2025 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in the 53 kg youth category, aged just 17, she broke the world youth record, lifting an amazing 192 kg.
To put this number in context, at the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships, her total of 192 kg would have put her in fifth place. She would need to lift, in my opinion, above 205 kg to be in contention at LA, so she needs to improve rapidly in the next two years. Also, with Mirabai’s favored weight event, the 48 kg, not being considered at the 2028 Games, Mirabai would also be in contention for the 53 kg place.
So Koyel needs to improve her total by over 12 kg over the next two years, which is possible but not easy, and also lift more than Mirabai. Both these feats are not going to be easy, but they are possible.
Chances of medal: Low to Medium
Unnati Hooda (18) / Tanvi Sharma (17) – Badminton
With the phenomenal run of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu over the last 15 years slowly coming to an inevitable end, the question on every Indian fan’s lips is, “Is there going to be another great Indian women’s badminton player to maintain the streak?”
The answer is probably one of two names. Unnati, just 18, has won three Super 100 BWF titles. She is also the second-highest-ranked Indian woman player, reaching 23rd place in the BWF world rankings. Tanvi, just 17, showed her class at the Junior World Championships, where she won a silver, something no Indian girl has done since the brilliant Saina Nehwal. She ranks 39th and had a superb run in 2025 to reach the finals of the US Open, a Super 300 event.
Read Articles Without Ads On Your IndiaSportsHub App. Download Now And Stay Updated
Both are superbly talented, but they need to break into the top 10 in the next two years to be in consideration for an Olympic medal. That task is going to be difficult, and very few will be able to break through from where they are into the top ten. Pullela Gopichand has often said that junior success in badminton only translates to Olympic medals if players build physical resilience and endurance early. Physical fitness and that never-say-die attitude which both Saina and PV Sindhu had is what they need to cultivate.
Chances of medal: Low
Anahat (Squash) – 17 years
If you look at the bespectacled Anahat and her slight frame, you could easily mistake her for just another youngster preparing for engineering. But Anahat has always had magic hands as soon as you put a squash racquet in her hand.
She came into the limelight when she won the U11 British Open in 2019. Since then, her sporting graph has been rising steadily. She won a series of junior titles like the German Open, the US Open, and the European Open. In 2025, she shifted to the senior level and has been moving up the ranks fairly fast and is currently ranked 28th in the world. She is the youngest player in the top 30 world rankings in squash.
She has won some great matches this year, beating players ranked in the top 20. There is a good chance that in the next two years she could move into the top 10 and hopefully be a medal contender.
Chances of medal: Low to Medium
