2015 was a great year for India’s
Women Athletes, as they valued and ran into uncharted territories, secured
Olympic Qualifications, and raked in the trophies. While it was a stupendous
year for Sania Mirza, one in which she won a stellar nine titles with Martina
Hingis, including two Grand Slams, and reached the top of the doubles world
rankings, there were other Indian women too who made 2015 a year to remember. In
their respective disciplines, these athletes broke new ground, took the world
by surprise, and gave us something to look forward to in 2016, the year of the
Olympics.
Lalita Babar: The daughter of a farmer, Babar broke the national
steeplechase record thrice this year. The icing on the cake was becoming the
first Indian to qualify for the final of a track event at the World
Championships. For the Rio Olympics starting in August, Babar has two tickets –
for the steeplechase and marathon.
Hockey Team: Indian Women Hockey Team was officially confirmed as
participants for the 2016 Rio Olympics. For the Indian Women Hockey Team which has
played at the Olympics only once before this, in 1980, on invitation, this is a
watershed moment. Full of girls from small towns and whose popularity seems
restricted to Shah Rukh Khan’s 2007 film ‘Chak De! India’, this is a telling
goal scored just in time.
Dipika Pallikal: Pallikal began the year brightly, winning the Winnipeg
Winter Club Open in February, but hit plenty of roadblocks midway through the
season. Having failed to get past the first round in three previous events,
Pallikal surged into the quarter-final of the prestigious US Open in October
with a hard fought victory over World No. 5 Alison Waters. Pallikal also spoke
openly about gender bias and refused to participate in the National Games since
the prize money for male and female winners wasn’t the same.
PV Sindhu: She won Macau Open in February 2015 and beat World No.
1 Carolina Marin in Denmark Open.
Deepika Kumari: She went into the London Olympics in 2012 as the World
No. 1 and made a first round exit. After two years, she overcame the shadow of
failure & led the women recurve team to silver at the World Championships
in Copenhagen, Denmark, booking them a ticket for Rio.
Apurvi Chandela: Part of the generation that was inspired by Abhinav
Bindra’s gold at Beijing 2008, she has her sight set on the ultimate prize. She
took the first step towards it by bagging bronze at the Changwon World Cup in
April and qualifying for the Rio Olympics in the 10m air rifle event. She is
the only shooter besides Jitu Rai to have booked a berth. She shot an
impressive 206.9 to win Silver at the Munich World Cup in September.
Dipa Karmakar: Karmakar achieved the massive feat of becoming the first
Indian to make it to the final of an event at the World Gymnastics
Championships. She finished fifth in the final of the vault event, which means
her chances of getting a wild card to compete in the Rio Olympics are pretty
high.
Saina Nehwal: Last year, she had become the first Non-Chinese player
to win the China Open Superseries. 2015 was the sting back in Nehwal game as
she became the World No. 1 singles player, an astonishing feat in a sport
dominated by the Chinese. Though Saina Nehwal had a few significant firsts to
her name – like a world championship and an All England medal – the big titles
eluded her. Expectations are high from her in 2016 Rio Olympics.
