Thanks to their grit, endurance and application, Indian sportswomen have carved out a spectacular niche to merit recognition in the wide spectrum of Sport, a discipline hitherto a male bastion. The climb to success was fraught with a number of challenges but women broke glass ceilings and showed they were no less inferior to their male counterparts. The laurels they have won in the last two decades is proof, if it was needed, that gender is no handicap in performance, asserts Trisha Sharma.
Today, Indian sportswomen are achieving success in international sports tournaments and garnering accolades for the nation in several areas of sports. Names like P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Mary Kom, Sakshi Malik, Dutee Chand, Manasi Joshi, P U Chitre, Mithila Raj, Deepa Malik, etc., need no introduction.Women in India have proved their mettle time and again and have finally received the recognition that was long due.
Indian sportswomen have endured social, cultural and financial challenges, raced ahead and ensured the perception of Indian women is changed internationally. In a country where sports have been dominated by men and a field that has traditionally been monopolised by men, Indian women have changed the map of the country’s sporting landscape. They are winning, blazing ahead and garnering international recognition to the country in the most prestigious and coveted championships like the Olympics, Paralympics, Asian Games, etc.
Indian sportswomen at the Olympics
Weightlifter Karnam Malleswari was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal after she won a bronze medal at Sydney in 2000. It was a historic moment for the country and the beginning of many more splendid achievements by Indian sportswomen. Her feat at Olympics came 48 years after the 1952 Helsinki Olympics where the first Indian woman participated in Olympics: Mary D’Souza participated in the 100m and 200m races.
Karnam’s medal has inspired the next generation of Indian women athletes who have since won several medals in the Olympics. Shuttler Saina Nehwal was the first India woman to win an Olympic medal in badminton when she won a bronze medal at the 2012 Beijing Olympics. She became the World No 1 badminton player in 2015. Indian freestyle wrestler, Rohtak’s Sakshi Malik became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal for wrestling at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 58 kg freestyle category. Badminton player P V Sindhu became the first Indian female athlete to win a silver medal at the Olympics at the 2016 Beijing Olympics in Badminton.
Indian boxer Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte, popularly known as Mary Kom, became the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal in boxing at the 2012 Beijing Olympics in the 51 kg fly weight category. A native of Manipur, she has also won 13 gold medals in other international competitions.
The Women in Blue
Even though India is known for cricket the world over, the national women cricket team called ‘Women in Blue’ made the Test debut in 1976 and the One Day International debut in 1978 at the Cricket World Cup. Although women played cricket in India in the early 70’s, it was not in an organised manner. It was only at the initiative and due to the efforts of Mahendra Sharma that women cricket started taking concrete form in the country. Women’s cricket officially started in India when Mr Sharma registered the Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) under the Societies Act at Lucknow in 1973. Later, Chandra Tripathi and Pramilabai Chavan also played an important role in the development of the sports for women in India.
The WCAI received the International Women’s Cricket Council (IWCC) membership in 1973 and the recognition of the government in 1978. Today, several names from the Women in Blue are recognised the world over. Some famous names include Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harmanpreet Kaur, Priya Punia, Tanya Bhatia, etc.
One of the best cricketers of all times and One Day International (ODI) Captain of women’s national cricket team, Mithali Raj is an opening batswoman and holds several records to her name. She is the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass 6,000 runs in women’s ODI matches. She is also the first player to score seven consecutive 50s in one day international matches. Mithali Raj also holds the record for the highest number of half centuries in women’s ODI matches. During the 2018 Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup she became the first player from India (either male or female) to score 2,000 runs in T20Is and also became the first woman cricketer to reach 2,002 WT20I runs. She is the recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2003 and the Padma Shri in 2015.
All-rounder Jhulan Goswami is an international cricketer, former captain of the Indian national cricket team. Now retired, Jhulan is considered one of the greatest women fast bowlers of all time, one of the fastest bowlers in the history of women’s cricket and the fastest contemporary bowler following the retirement of Australian cricketer Cathryn Fitzpatrick. She is also the highest wicket taker in Women’s One Day International cricket and recipient of the ICC Women’s Player of the Year award in 2007 and the M A Chidambaram trophy for Best Women’s Cricketer in 2011.
Women para-athletes shun norms
A discussion about women para-athletes is incomplete without Deepa Malik, the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games, who won a Silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Interestingly, she started her sports career at age 30. In August 2019, she became the first Indian woman para-athlete and the oldest to be conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. She had become the second para-athlete to be honoured with the prestigious award after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia in 2017. Para-shuttler or para-badminton player Manasi Joshi has achieved a lot in a short span of time. After beginning her professional sports career in 2015, she soon gained success and became a world champion. It was in 2011 when she met with a road accident while riding her motorbike to work and lost her leg. Presently, she is ranked world no. 2 in women’s singles category. Manasi has been featured in the TIMES Magazine cover page as the next generation leader and was nominated for the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year 2019 alongside icons Mary Kom, Dutee Chand and PV Sindhu.
Para-athletes Rakshitha and Radha from Karnataka became the first girls from the country to win medals at the Asian Para Games 2018. They brought home a gold and a silver, respectively.Radha is a resident of Chitradurga and is partially visually-impaired while Rakshitha from Chikkamagaluru has complete impairment. Another para-athlete Mysuru-based Ramya Shanmugham represented India at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games and won silver medal in the Women’s Javelin-Throw F46 event.
Other women sports super-achievers
Indian women have left no sports untouched. Koneru Humpy was the youngest women in the history of Chess to be awarded the title of Grand Master after she defeated Monika Socko of Poland in the tie-breaker semi-final match to lead India to the final of the 2020 Fide Online Chess Olympiad. Footballer Bala Devi from Manipur became the first Indian woman to sign for a European club in January 2020 when she signed a contract with the Scottish team, Rangers Women’s FC. She also became the first Indian woman to score a goal in a European league.
Mumbai-based table tennis prodigy, 16-year-old Diya Chitale has participated in national and international tournaments and won accolades for the country. She has been training in Germany and Japan to prepare for international tournaments.