5 Indian women who have won medals at the Olympics

India’s saving grace at the Olympics in Rio were the daughters of the nation, who put forth some incredible performances to win the country medals and salvage pride in what was otherwise a very disappointing edition of the Games for the nation.

While Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu spring to mind instantly for their heroics at Rio, there was a certain lady who did the same back in 2000 at Sydney where she was the lone medal winner in a country of over 1.2 billion people.

A medal for Indian women after 12 years at the Olympics was special and re-instilled belief in the fairer sex of being able to compete at the top level and getting the better of their counterparts from across the World.

Here is a look at the 5 Indian women medal winners at the Olympics who have impressed and won laurels at the world’s biggest sporting extravangza:

Karnam Malleswari

Women’s weightlifting was introduced for the first time in the Olympics and with it came a chance to add a medal to one’s tally. And India’s leading weightlifter, Karnam Malleswari, did not disappoint.

Competing in the 69 kg category, Malleswari lost marginally to Chinese Lin Weining and Hungarian Erzsébet Márkus. In what could have been a Gold, Malleswari failed to lift 137.5kg in her last attempt and had to settle for a Bronze.

Looking back at the event, she claimed she could have easily won Gold. Not only did she concede having lifted similar weights in training, but also put it down to some miscalculation by the coaches which saw her miss the top laurel.

A 132.5 kg lift would have also seen her clinch gold, but it was not to be.

Malleswari put in a stellar show as she lifted 110 kg in the "snatch" and130 kg in the "clean and jerk" for a total of 240 kg, which was good enough to seal a spot on the podium.

Her medal inspired a whole generation of Indian girls to take up sports seriously and showed them they could compete at the very top level.