Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova showed she was not just a glamour girl who also played tennis. The 17-year-old Siberian beauty came out with a smashing Wimbledon Ladies Singles victory over the redoubtable Serena Williams. She beat her again at the WTA Championships in Los Angeles, thereby signalling the end of the Serena serenade on grass and clay courts around the world. The Florida resident, who loves jazz and Sherlock Holmes, finished 2004 with a singles world ranking of No 4. Way to go, Maria!

Ankur Aggarwal

You wouldn?t think your insurance agent was a millionaire many times over. Well, take a look at Ankur Aggarwal, the 20-year-old insurance salesman extraordinaire, who has netted a cool Rs 68 lakh at last count. A student of second year BBA at a Delhi college, Aggarwal had started working for Kotak Mahindra Old Life Insurance Company to finance his studies. But there was no stopping him once he discovered his knack for selling policies. ?I never give up on a potential client,? he says. He?s still keen on completing his studies, though. Hey, is this guy nuts?

Chetan Bhagat

IIT-ians have got it made, right? Wrong, said Chetan Bhagat in his hilarious book on life at India?s tech meccas, Five Point Someone: What not to do at IIT. A graduate of IIT Delhi with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Bhagat, 29, who works for an investment bank in Hong Kong, fits the bill of the archetypal Indian super-achiever. Yet his book takes digs at the performance-oriented, high-pressure lives IIT-ans are forced to lead. But Bhagat, who won heaps of accolades for his acute and uproariously funny book, does admit that his time at IIT was one of the happiest in his life. His motto: ?Don?t stop making friends?. Well, okay, Chetan, but we?d rather you didn?t stop writing.

Sunidhi Chauhan

The brassy, sassy, smoky-voiced Sunidhi Chauhan emerged as the queen of Hindi pop in 2004, topping off the year with the chart-busting Dhoom macha le. She?s got youngsters around the country swinging to her beat now, the Shefali Jariwalas of this world quite forgotten in the collective, orgiastic dhoom. A child artiste who tasted fame with the TV talent hunt show Meri Awaz Suno, Chauhan, 20, is not one to rest on her laurels. A staunch fan of Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey, this gal wants her fame to spread worldwide.

Amen to that!

Ronaldinho

He?s the Fifa World Player of the Year 2004. And why not? Ronaldinho scored as many as 19 goals for his club Barcelona and set up many more in his capacity as the team?s star playmaker. Like most Brazilian footballers, Ronaldinho, 24, has come up the hard way, kicking the ball around on the streets and beaches of Porto Alegre. His real success this year has been in catapulting a dispirited, faction-ridden Barcelona to the top of the Spanish Primera Liga. The ever-smiling, long-haired soccer star is admired as much for his performance on the field as his enthusiasm off it.

Ashwin Chitale

Nine-year-old Ashwin Chitale stole the heart of viewers and reviewers alike with his award-winning role of a village boy who has a rare form of cancer of the eyes in Shwaas, the Marathi film that is India?s entry for the Oscars this year. Chitale, who got the national award for the best child artiste (Shwaas bagged the

Golden Lotus for best film), was only four when he was signed and that too after being put through five rigorous screen tests.

Now a student of Class IV at Pune?s Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, the pint-sized star doesn?t feel friends treat him any differently now that he has become famous. He has already acted in another Marathi film and has five short films to his credit. Clearly, acting is what he loves best. Ask him about his future plans and Chitale pipes up, ?Main Amitabh Bachchan anoonga!? Here?s hoping you do, kid!

Irfan Pathan

A Man of the Series award for his 18 wickets and a maiden 10-wicket haul in Tests in the recently-concluded series versus Bangladesh ? 2004 saw Baroda?s lanky Irfan Pathan come into his own. The medium-pacer who cut his Test teeth against the formidable Australians in December 2003, has scalped 39 victims in the one year that he has been in operation. His ODI tally is now an impressive 47 before the Bangla series. Also, unlike most quicks, the 20-year-old is no mug with the bat and sells his wicket dearly lower down the order. Overall, a very handy package. The coming year may see him become the pace spearhead of Team India.

Gayathri Kumar

Word perfect ? that?s what 13-year-old Gayathri Kumar proved to be when she came out tops at a UK-wide spelling contest held by the BBC. Quite a feat considering that she spoke only Malayalam when she came to England in 1996. But since then, Gayathri has not only mastered an impressive English vocabulary (troglodyte, mezzanine, apocalypse and claustrophobia were some of the words she spelt correctly), she is fluent in French and Spanish as well. Passionate about reading and writing, she wants to be a novelist when she grows up. Attagirl!