Assam’s Gitika Talukdar is the only Indian female photojournalist who is covering the Men's FIFA World Cup 2026. However, this is not her first time at this big job. She was also the accredited photojournalist during the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cups, making this her third assignment.
Gitika Talukdar was born in India's Arunachal Pradesh and had a passion for photography and sports. She studied Global Sports Management at South Korea's Seoul National University after receiving a scholarship from the country's Ministry of Sports and Culture.
Soon after, she began working for a photo news agency and eventually solely focussed on sports photography. Today, she has been covering international sports events for almost 20 years.
Gitika has worked on several FIFA assignments including the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups in France and the 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand. She has also covered the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, multiple ICC tournaments and Commonwealth Games.
Getting into these high-profile tournaments as a journalist is not easy. However, once again, she made it to this year's World Cup. Sharing the news on her social media, the photojournalist said, "Thank you FIFA for giving me the official recognition and accreditation for the third consecutive years and for giving me this golden opportunity to witness the world mega sports event once again."
"This is going to be my third Men's FIFA World Cups coverage. I also sincerely thanks to All India Football Federation and Asian Football Confederation for trust in me", she added.
Sports journalism in general and sports photography in particular is majorly male-dominated profession. Besides, Gitika belongs to a country which could not qualify into the World Cup. All factors considered, this is a huge achievement and a moment of pride for Assam and the rest of India.
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