Kapil Dev to Prakash Padukone: Meet India's first gamechangers

Ahead of the release of Ranveer Singh's '83', a film on India's pathbreaking cricket World Cup victory, Forbes India looks at the journeys of sportspeople who flipped the switch for India on the global stage
Published: Mar 16, 2020
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  • Kapil Dev to Prakash Padukone: Meet India's first gamechangers
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PT Usha was a sickly child who was introduced to running by her parents, who turned a deaf ear to detractors. They sent her to a training camp in Kannur, about an hour and a half away from her home. "My neighbours discouraged my mother from sending a girl away," says Usha.  The Payyoli Express, as Usha is fondly called, vindicated her parents' faith when, in the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984, she ran a sterling race and missed a podium finish by one-hundredth of a second. Till this day, she remains among India's most successful international athletes