| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Tennis | |||
| Asian Games | |||
| Gold | 2006 Doha | Mixed Doubles | |
| Silver | 2006 Doha | Singles | |
| Silver | 2006 Doha | Team | |
Sania Mirza (born November 15, 1986) is an Indian tennis player. She was born in Mumbai, brought up in Hyderabad. Coached by her father, Imran Mirza, (as well as her other family members) she began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 18 in doubles. She was ranked 91st in the singles category and 44th in the doubles category in the WTA rankings of Sept 8, 2008.
Career
Sania Mirza holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tennis tournament when she was seeded 26th in the 2007 U.S. Open. Earlier in 2005, she had become the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 U.S. Open, defeating Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli. In 2004, she finished runner up at the Asian Tennis Championship. In 2005, Mirza reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. On February 12, 2005, she became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title, defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the Hyderabad Open Finals.
Mirza won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title, teaming up with Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. Mirza does not enjoy playing on clay. Her best performance in French Open singles was a second round appearance in 2007.
As of September 2006, Mirza has notched up three top 10 wins against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.
At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza won the silver in the women's singles category and the gold in the mixed doubles partnering Leander Paes. She was also part of the Indian women's team that won the silver in the team event.
Mirza had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hardcourt season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open Series standings. She reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic and won the doubles event with Shahar Pe'er, and reached the quarterfinals of the Tier 1 Acura Classic.
At the 2007 U.S. Open, she reached the third round before losing to Anna Chakvetadze for the third time in recent weeks. She fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek, including an impressive win over number two seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.
She represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, in the women's singles and doubles events. In singles, she retired in the round of 64, while she was trailing 1-6, 1-2 against Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic. She teamed up with Sunitha Rao for the doubles event. They got a walk-over in the round of 32, but lost to Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina by 4-6, 4-6, in the round of 16.
She has stated that two of her best friends are fellow WTA tour players, Anna Chakvetadze and Bethanie Mattek.
Career highlights
- 2008 Australian Open, lost in the final of Australian Open mixed doubles with partner Mahesh Bhupati.
- 2008 Australian Open, seeded 31st in the tournament, loses to Venus Williams in the third round 7–6(0), 6–4. Reached Finals of mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupati.
- 2007 U.S. Open, seeded 26th in the tournament, reaches the third round defeating US veteran Laura Granville 6–3, 7–5, before losing to Anna Chakvetadze 2–6, 3–6.
- 2007 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, won the doubles title partnering Italian Mara Santangelo, beating the top seeds Liezel Huber and Cara Black 6–1, 6–2.
- 2007 East West Bank Classic, beats Martina Hingis for the second time in a row in the second round 6–2, 2–6, 6–4.
- 2007 Acura Classic, reaches quarter-finals after defeating two Top 20 players Shahar Pe'er and Dinara Safina. However, she lost to top-seed Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–1.
- 2007 Bank of the West Classic, reached third career final after defeating Akiko Morigami, Tatiana Golovin, Patty Schnyder and Sybille Bammer, but lost to Anna Chakvetadze 6–2 6–3. Claimed the Doubles title with partner Shahar Pe'er, beating Anna Chakvetadze and Victoria Azarenka 6–4, 7–6.
- 2007 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, won the doubles title with Bethanie Mattek as the 1st seeds. In the final they defeated Alina Jidkova and Tatiana Poutchek 7–6 7–5.
- 2007 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, reached the semifinals as the 3rd seed, finally losing to 1st seeded, and eventual champion, Anna Chakvetadze 2–6, 7–5, 3–6.
- 2006 15th Asian games, Doha, Qatar: Mixed doubles - won gold medal for India partnering Leander Paes. They beat Japan's Satoshi Iwabuchi and Akiko Morigami 7–5, 5–7, 6–2
- 2006 15th Asian games, Doha, Qatar: Singles - won silver medal losing to China's Jie Zheng 4–6, 6–1, 1–6
- 2006 15th Asian games, Doha, Qatar: Team Tennis - won Silver medal for India pairing Shikha Uberoi. They lost to Chinese Taipei team.
- 2006 Sunfeast Kolkata Open singles: reached semi-finals, losing to eventual champion, Martina Hingis 6–1 6–0
- 2006 Sunfeast Kolkata Open]] doubles: Won the tournament partnering Liezel Huber. They beat Yulia Fedak and Yuliana Beygelzeimer 6–4 6–0
- 2006 Bangalore Open (Hyderabad Open in the previous years) doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber)
- 2006 Won Silver medal in Qatar Asian Games 2006 Women's singles final and Gold medal in mixed doubles (partnering with Leander Paes)
- 2005 Japan Open: reaches the semi-finals of women's singles and doubles (partnering Shahar Peer of Israel); reaches her highest doubles ranking of 114.
- 2005 U.S. Open: reaches 4th round by defeating Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets (7–6(4), 6–4) before losing to top seed Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–1. Voted Best Player of the day on the 3rd day for winning her 2nd round match despite bleeding toes.
- 2005 Forest Hills Tennis Classic, New York: reaches her second WTA final but fails to win.
- 2005 Acura Classic: upsets Nadia Petrova in 2nd round but loses in the third round to Akiko Morigami of Japan (2–6,6–4,4–6). By beating the 8th-ranked Petrova, she breaks into top 50 in world rankings for the first time ever.
- 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships: Upset reigning US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 6–2 in 2nd round to reach the quarter-finals
- 2005 Hyderabad Open singles: Won the tournament defeating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6–4, 5–7, 6–3 in the final and became the first Indian woman to capture a WTA singles title.
- 2005 Australian Open singles: 3rd round: Became first Indian woman to reach the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament.
- 2004 Hyderabad Open doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Liezel Huber) to become the youngest Indian to win a WTA or ATP tour title and the first Indian woman to capture a WTA tour title. entered the singles as wild card but lost in the first round to the eventual winner Nicole Pratt.
- 2003 Wimbledon Championships Juniors doubles: Won the tournament (partnering with Alisa Kleybanova) to become the youngest Indian and the first Indian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title.
- 2003 Afro-Asian Games: won four gold medals - Women's singles, Mixed doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi), Women's doubles and Women's team events (the last two golds in partnership with Rushmi Chakravarthy).
Career finals
Singles
Wins (1 WTA/12 ITF)
Doubles
Wins (7 WTA/4 ITF)
| Legend (Doubles) |
| Grand Slam Title (0) |
| WTA Tour Championship (0) |
| Tier I (0) |
| Tier II (2) |
| Tier III (3) |
| Tier IV (2) |
| ITF Circuit (4) |
Singles performance timeline
| Tournament | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 3r | 2r | 2r | 3r | - | - | - | - |
| Roland Garros | A | 2r | 1r | 1r | - | - | - | - |
| Wimbledon | 2r | 2r | 1r | 2r | - | - | - | - |
| US Open | 3r | 2r | 4r | - | - | - | - | |
| WTA Tour Championships | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| WTA Finals reached | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | |
| WTA Tournaments Won | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | |
| ITF Tournaments Won | - | - | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | - | |
| Win-Loss (including ITF) | 30-19 | 20-24 | 33-20 | 50-8 | 20-5 | 20-4 | 6-3 | |
| Year End Ranking | 30 | 66 | 34 | 206 | 399 | 837 | 987 |
Controversy
As a Muslim, she has garnered criticism from some Orthodox Islamic groups, as her attire allegedly did not conform to Islamic dress codes. According to one report published September 8, 2005, an unnamed Islamic scholar had issued a fatwa, saying that her attire is contrary to what is permitted by Islam.[1] A further report published the next day on this fatwa elaborated that Mirza was unfazed by the comments [2] Large numbers of Muslim clerics protested her attire, accusing her of being a "corrupting influence on the youth."[3] She has been widely attacked and vilified in Islamist circles, including a cleric named Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui who said "The dress she wears on the tennis courts…leaves nothing to the imagination, She will undoubtedly be a corrupting influence.".[4] Islamist groups such as Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind allegedly threatened to disrupt her tennis matches, following which the Calcutta police had to tighten security measures to protect her.[5] Mirza, a Muslim from Banjara Hills, also attracted a response from the Major Shia Organization in India, The All-India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board. The Board disapproved the edict issued by some Muslim clerics on dresses worn by Mirza while playing, and asked them not to meddle in the sports arena.
In 2006, some newspapers reported that Mirza declined from playing with an Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er for fear of violent protests from India's Muslim clerics and their opposition to the existence of Israel.[3] However, these reports were dismissed by Mirza as "baseless" and in 2007, Pe'er and Mirza teamed up again at Wimbledon. The duo made the third round of Wimbledon before being knocked out by the top seeds.
Mirza said in January 2008 that she considered quitting the sport because of undue controversy surrounding her actions. Mirza was pictured resting her feet during a press conference at the 2008 Hopman Cup, with an Indian flag in close proximity.[6] She faced possible prosecution under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act after a private citizen complained. Mirza protested that, "I love my country, I wouldn't be playing Hopman Cup otherwise", and said that she meant no disrespect. On February 4, 2008, Mirza said that she would stop appearing in tennis tournaments held in India, starting with the 2008 Bangalore Open the following month, citing the series of controversies and upon advice by her manager.
4)Dola Banerjee
| Dola Banerjee | |
 | |
| Occupation | Sportsman (Archer) |
|---|---|
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  India | |||
| Women's Archery | |||
Dola Banerjee (born 2 June 1980) is an Indian sportswoman who competes in archery. She is daughter of Ashok Banerjee and Kalpana Banerjee. She was born in Baranagar near Kolkata.
Dola Banerjee studied in Baranagar Rajkumari Memorial Girls High School. At the age of nine, she joined Baranagar Archery Club[1] . Her first international appearance was in Youth World Championship in San Diego in 1996[2]
Dola Banerjee represented India at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was placed 13th in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 642. In the first round of elimination, she faced 52nd-ranked Kirstin Jean Lewis of South Africa. Dola fell victim to an upset, losing 141-131 in the 18-arrow match, placing 52nd overall in women's individual archery. Dola was also a member of the 8th-place Indian women's archery team.
Dola Banerjee won the second international gold medal of her career when she bagged the individual recurve title of the fourth leg of the Meteksan World Cup archery at Dover (England) in August 2007. Having won the fourth leg, she qualified for the world cup final held at Dubai in November 2007 where the winners of the four legs competed. [3]
Dola Banerjee is the first woman archer to be honored with the Arjuna award by the Government of India in 2005. She is a cousin of the singers Shaan and Sagarika[4]
Dola represented India in the women's individual as well as team events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but failed to reach the finals in both events. She teamed up with Pranitha Vardhineni and Bombayala Devi in the team event. They were ranked sixth in the qualifiers. They got a bye in the round of 16, but lost to China by 206-211 in the quarterfinals. in the individual event, she was ranked 31st, and lost to Marie-Pier Beaudet of Canada by 8-10 in the tie b
5)Koneru Humpy
| Humpy Koneru | |
 | |
| Full name | Humpy Koneru |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Born | |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2622 (No. 2 on the July 2008 FIDE ratings list for women) |
| Peak rating | 2622 (July 2008) |
Humpy Koneru (born 31 March 1987 in Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh) is a chess grandmaster from India. Her October 2007 FIDE Elo rating was 2606, placing her at number two in the world for women (behind Judit Polgar), breaking the record of 2577 set by Susan Polgar for the second-highest ranked female player in Chess history and becoming the second female player ever, after Judit Polgar, to cross the 2600 elo mark.
Humpy was originally named Hampi by her parents but her father later changed it to Humpy, a more Russian-sounding name. She writes her family name (Koneru) before her given name.
Humpy held the record from 2002 to 2008 for the youngest woman ever to become a grandmaster (not merely a Woman Grandmaster), which she achieved in 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgar's previous record by 3 months.
In 2001 she won the World Junior Girls Chess Championship. In 2006 she participated in the Women's World Chess Championship, but was eliminated in the second round.
reak, after scoring 108-108 in the full set of arrows.
6)Anjali Bhagwat
- This article is about an Indian sportswoman. See Anjali for disambiguation.
Anjali Bhagwat (maiden name Anjali Ved Pathak; Marathi: अंजली वेदपाठक, Aṅjali Ved Pāṭhak) [5th December 1969 - ] is a rifle shooter from India. In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, she won four golds in the individual and pairs events of Air rifle and Smallbore Rifle (Three positions). She was awarded the Arjuna award in 2000 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna jointly with Beenamol for 2002–2003. She represented India at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2004 Athens Olympics, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, though she couldn't win a medal.[1]
Olympic results
| Event | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 metre rifle three positions | 33rd 566 | 13th 575 | — |
| 10 metre air rifle | 8th 394+99.1 | 20th 393 | 29th 393 |
Awards
- 2003: Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
- 2000: Arjuna Award
- Chhatrapati Award
- Maharashtra Gaurav
- Maharashtra Pratishtha
7)Neha Aggarwal
8)Shiny Abraham
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Shiny Abraham | |||
| Women's Athletics | |||
| Competitor for India | |||
| Asian Championships | |||
| Gold | 1985 Jakarta | 800 metres | |
| Silver | 1985 Jakarta | 400 metres | |
Shiny Abraham (now Wilson) (b. May 8, 1965) is an Indian athlete. She has been a National Champion in 800 metres for 14 years. Shiny Abraham Wilson (Shiny Abraham) represented India more than 75 times in international competitoin. She holds the added distinction of representing Asia in four World Cups, She is also perhaps the only athlete to have taken part in six Asian Track & Field Meets in a row beginning 1985 in Jakarta. During this period she won seven gold , five silver and two bronze medals. She collected a total or 18 gold and two silver medals from the seven South Asian Federation (SAF) Meets she has competed.
Born at Thodupuzha village in Idukki district of Kerala on 8 May 1965, Shiny became interested in athletics as a child but developed her skills after joining the sports division in Kottayam. In fact Shiny, PT Usha and M D Valsamma studied at the same sports division in various parts of Kerala and as they grew up, they were coached by the NIS coach P. J. Devesla. Shiny was then trained at G.V. Raja Sports School in Trivandrum before she moved to Alphonsa College in Palai.
Shiny Abraham's athletics career ran alongside that of PT Usha from the time the two of them represented the country in the Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982. Shiny became national champion in the 800 metres a year before the Asian Games in Delhi. After that and until she announced her retirement, she has won the event every time she did the course on the national scene, A veteran of four Olympics and three Asian Games, Shiny has some great moments to cherish, particularly the experience in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games where she became the first woman from India to enter the semi-final of an Olympic event. And more importantly, she was part of the relay squad which set the Asian record there and again when it improved upon that mark during the World Championship in Rome in 1987.
Shiny also has some bitter memories, of the day when she cut into the inner lane and was disqualified while very much in front of the field during the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul. she also cherishes the memory of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when she became the first women to the flag bearer for India at the Olympics.
Her most memorable competition was the Asian Track & Field Meet at Delhi in 1989, despite being in the family way, she ran the 800 meters to come second behind Sun Sumei of China but then Sumei tested positive and Shiny was lucky that for a period she had the benefit of Sriram Singh’s guidance. One of her greatest achievements was that she was running even faster after the birth of her child. Her 1:58.8 at the 1995 South Asian Federation (SAF) Games in Chennai was achieved after the delivery of her daughter Shilpa. This was the first time that she was able to come under two minutes. She is married to well-known international swimmer and Arjuna awardee, Cherian Wilson and employed as Deputy Manager (Sports) with Food corporation of India, Shiny was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1985, Birla Award in 1996 and Padma Shri in 1998. she is also the recipient of Chinese Journalists Award 1991 for being one of the Top Ten Athletes of Asia.
Participation
Shiny Abraham has participated in three Olympic Games: Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992). Although she didn't win any medals at any of the three Olympics, she and P.T. Usha powered India to an unexpected Women's 4X400 relay final at the 1984 Games. She was also the captain of the Indian Contingent at the 1992 Games.
She has also represented India in three Asian Games and has won a Gold, 2 Silvers and a Bronze.
In the Asian Track and Field meets, she has won 7 Gold Medals, 6 Silver Medals and 2 Bronze Medals.
Awards
She received the Arjuna award in 1984.
9)Bachendri Pal
Early life
Bachendri Pal was born into a family of very moderate means, in 1954, in a village named Nakuri in Garhwal. Her father, Kishan Singh Pal, was a small trader who used to carry provisions like wheat flour and rice from India to Tibet on mules and goats. Eventually he settled in Uttarkashi, where he married; the couple had five children, Bachendri being the middle one. Bachendri was an active child, and did well in her school; she excelled in sports too, and at the same time was singled out in school for punishments for a variety of petty misconducts.
Her first exposure to mountaineering was at the age of 12, when during a picnic she along with several schoolmates climbed a 13,123 feet high peak. They could not climb down as it had already become dark and had to spend the night at the peak without any food or cover. The experience remained ingrained in her memory, heightening her love for adventure and the mountains. Despite many constraints, she continued her schooling and completed it successfully. On being persuaded by the principal of her school, her parents sent her to college. She completed her graduation, becoming the first girl of her village to do so. While doing her graduation, she also secured the first position in a rifle shooting event, beating other boys and girls. She also completed university courses leading to securing an MA and a Bachelor's degree in education.
However, Bachendri did not budge from her determination. She joined the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM). She was declared the best student and was considered as “Everest material”. In 1982, while at NIM, she climbed Gangotri I (21,900 ft) and Rudugaria (19,091 ft). Around that time, she got employment as an instructor at the National Adventure Foundation, which had set up an adventure school to train women to learn mountaineering.
The ascent
In 1984, India had scheduled its fourth expedition, christened “Everest ‘84’”, to the Mount Everest. Bachendri was selected as one of the members of the elite group of six Indian women and eleven men who were privileged to attempt an ascent to the Mount Everest, Sagarmatha in the Nepaleses. The news made her filled with a sense of ecstasy and excitement. The elite team was flown to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal in March 1984; and from there the team moved onwards. Recalling her first glimpse of the Mount Everest, Bachendri once reminisced: “We the hill people have always worshipped the mountains … my overpowering emotion at this awe-inspiring spectacle was, therefore, devotional.”
The team commenced its ascent in May, 1984. On the night of 15th-16th May, 1984, Bachendri and her tent mate were sleeping in one of the tents at Camp III at an altitude of about 24,000 feet. At around 00:30 hours (IST), at around 24,000 feet, she was jolted awake; something had hit her hard and she also heard a deafening sound; and at the same time she found herself being enveloped within a very cold mass of material. A serac on the Lhotse glacier, above the Camp III has slid down, and fallen on the camp raking havoc at the camp. Her tent mate using his knife could slash his way out of the mass of ice. He, thereafter, assisted Bachendri to dig her way out of the mess. Many members of the team were injured, and became unnerved; and they climbed down to the base camp. Despite an injury on her head, Bachendri chose to continue the ascent.
On 22nd May 1984, some other climbers joined the team to ascent the summit of the Mount Everest. Bachendri was the only woman in this group. They continued the ascent climbing “vertical sheets of frozen ice”, cold winds sometimes blowing at the speed of about 100 km per hour, temperatures touching below up to minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius. On 23rd May 1984, Bachendri reached the summit of Mount Everest, and at 1:07 PM IST, she was standing at the peak (29,084 ft) along with one other climber. The peak was small to accommodate two persons; and there was a vertical drop of thousands of feet all around the peak. So they first made themselves secured by anchoring themselves by digging their ice axes into the snow.
Bachendri then sat on her knees, touched the summit with her head in the Hindu gesture of thanksgiving to the almighty; took an image of goddess Durga and a copy of Hanuman Chalisha (the Book of Forty Verses of Hanuman) and placed them in the snow. She remained on the summit for about 43 minutes, and took some photographs too. She became the first Indian woman to scale the Mount Everest, and the fifth women in the world.
She climbed down and reached the base camp safely. Her achievement brought her congratulations from many quarters across the world. In India, the President, the Prime Minister, and J. R. D. Tata congratulated her in person.
And beyond
She continued to be active after ascending the highest peak in the world. In 1985, she led an Indo-Nepalese Everest Expedition team comprising of only women. The expedition created seven world records and set benchmarks for Indian mountaineering. Nine years later, in 1994, she led an all women team of rafters. The team coursed through the waters of the river Ganges, covering 2,500 km from Haridwar to Kolkata.
Presently, she is working at a senior position in Tata Steel Adventure Foundation of the Tata Group. Her job includes training the management teams of the Tata Steel to build the team spirit through adventure activities like trekking and mountaineering; rowing and rafting; and spending time in camps and learning survival skills in difficult conditions.
10)Nafisa Ali
Nafisa Ali is a social activist from India.
She is the daughter of the well-known Indian photographer Ahmed Ali, son of S. Wajid Ali and brother of Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah.
She has accomplishments in several fields. She was the national swimming champion from 1972-1974. She won the Miss India title in 1976 and was runner-up at the Miss International contest in 1977. Ali was also a jockey at the Calcutta Gymkhana in 1979. She has acted in several Bollywood films, the notable ones being Junoon (1979) with Shashi Kapoor and Major Saab with Amitabh Bachchan (1998), Bewafaa (2005) and the most recent being Life In A... Metro with Dharmendra in 2007. She has also acted in a Malayalam film called Big B (2007) with Mammootty. She is associated with Action India, an organisation working to spread AIDS awareness. She contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully from South Kolkata. In September 2005, she was appointed the chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).
She comes from a very diverse theistic background and environment; her mother was a Roman Catholic while her father was Muslim, she married a Sikh man, Col "Pickles" Sodhi .She has also studied Vedanta taught by Swami Chinmayananda ,who started the center Chinmaya Mission of World Understanding.
