Dipa Karmakar is one of the five gymnasts who have mastered the dangerous Produnova vault.
Padma Shri Dipa Karmakar, Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik and actor Alia Bhatt have made it to the Forbes' list of super achievers from Asia under the age of 30 who are "pushing boundaries of innovation". Over 50 Indians feature on this list. In its second year, the Forbes '30 Under 30' Asia list features 300 impressive young entrepreneurs -- 30 in 10 categories, including entertainment, finance and venture capital, retail, social entrepreneurs and enterprise technology. With 53 Indians on the list, the country is second only to China which has 76 achievers.
She might have narrowly missed a bronze, but 23-year-old Tripura girl Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian woman gymnast to ever compete in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro last year and the first Indian gymnast to compete in 52 years, made the country proud by qualifying for the vaults final in her Olympics debut. An exponent of the Produnova vault, Ms Karmakar is also one of the five gymnasts who have mastered this extremely difficult technique.
Olympian Sakshi Malik, 24, gave India its long-awaited podium finish towards the fag end of the Rio Olympics. She clinched a bronze and became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a medal Olympics and the fourth woman Olympic medalist in the country. Forbes noted that Ms Malik, who hails from a small Indian town Rohtak, faced a lot of opposition when she took up the sport at age 12.
Alia Bhatt's portrayal of a Bihari migrant in last year's much-talked about film, Udta Punjab was among the many critically acclaimed roles that the 24-year-old actor has played in her five-year-long cinematic journey.
Srikanth Bolla, 25, founder of Bollant Industries was born blind into a family of farmers in rural India. He was the first international blind student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he studied business management. After his return to India, he set up a company in Hyderabad that employs and trains differently-abled individuals to manufacture eco-friendly and compostable packaging.
Sharath Gayakwad, 25, India's first Paralympic swimmer, coach and Arjuna award winner who has won 96 medals was featured for starting Gamatics, an aggregator between international brands and domestic retailers, that offers sports gear and support system to athletes.
Founder of SheSays, Trisha Shetty, 26, was selcted for empowering women to act against sexual violence by providing education, legal, medical as well as psychological support through her non-profit organisation.
Feeding India's Ankit Kawatra, 25, was recognized for starting an app to solve the country's hunger problem. The app connects restaurants and individuals for collection and distribution of free meals to those in need.
The youngest Indians on the list are brothers Sanjay, 15, and Shravan Kumaran, 17, who founded GoDimensions, a mobile app developer five years ago. Their apps have clocked over 70,000 downloads in over 60 countries. They are the youngest Mobile Application Programmers in India.
The list also features 29-year-old Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder of hike, an instant messaging service designed to rival WhatsApp, Vaishnavi Murali, 29, founder of Eikowa Art, an India-based online art gallery, Indian-American author, screenwriter and filmmaker Kovid Gupta, 28, and Amanat Anand, 24, Shubham Issar, 23, and Yogita Agrawal, 23, co-founders of SoaPen, a teaching tool in the form of a wearable soap crayon.
(With inputs from PTI)