Beti Bachao: 10 Indian Daughter's who brought laurels to country in sporting arena

Beti Bachao

Aspirations and dreams of women has always remain chained and carefully monitored by society. Growing up as a woman in a world where women are often considered subordinate to men is tough. With girls in India still facing an indefinite number of problems in the society, struggling day in and day out to overcome all the obstacles that come in the way of their dreams and some women still finding themselves chained in homes and hostels after sundown. Some Indian daughters have found their ways out in bringing laurels to the country in all the fields – be it education, economic activities, social spheres or in sports - they are scaling new heights. Here we bring you list of 10 Indian daughters who have done some have carved out a name for themselves in the sporting arena

PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu created history by winning the Silver medal at the BWF World Championships. Sindhu also holds the record of being the first Indian to make it to the finals of a badminton event at Olympics. Sindhu lost a hard fought final to Spain's Carolina Marin and settled for silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She thereby became the first ever Silver medalist for India in badminton at the Olympics.

Mary Kom

Chungneijang Mery Kom Hmangte popularly known as Mary Kom is a 5-time World Amateur Boxing Champion. an Olympic Indian boxer hailing from the Kom tribe in Manipur did not let motherhood or conventions of the society hinder her from achieving global recognition. She is also one of the only women boxing champion to have gotten a medal for each of the six championships.

Saina Nehwal

Sania Nehwal is the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships and was also the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament The first Indian woman to receive a medal in the Olympics for Badminton, Sania Nehwal has been ranked no.1 in the world by Badminton World Federation Women's Singles 2015.

Dipa Karmakar

Dipa Karmakar won the hearts after the 23-year-old from Tripura, the first woman gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics, didn’t win a medal, but ranked an impressive fourth position in the women’s vault finals in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 14. American Simone Biles took the top prize with a final score of 15.966. So far, India is yet to win any medals in this year’s Olympics. Karmakar received a final score of 15.066 for executing one of the most dangerous feats in gymnastics, the Produnova vault.

Mithali Raj

India captain Mithali Raj has broken a few record in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup. Mithali first broke the record of most consecutive 50-plus scores in one-day internationals. She then broke the world record of most runs in ODIs for women and also became the first woman in ODIs to score 6,000 runs. The captain of Indian Women’s cricket team has made the country proud by becoming the highest run scorer in One Day Internationals. In the crucial game against Australia at the ICC Women’s world cup 2017, Mithali Raj surpassed 5992 runs of England’s Charlotte Edwards to become the highest run scorer.

Sania Mirza

From the age of sixteen, the Hyderabadi girl has won accolades for the nation and is also the number one tennis star in the Doubles category. She has won three Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and has been an inspirational sports personality in India for several years. Indian leading tennis lady was appointed as the UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the event held to mark the International Day To End Violence Against Women.

PT Usha

PT Usha, known as the “Payyoli Express” is one of the greatest athletes to have represented India on the tracks in the Olympics. Her fourth position in 400 meters hurdles in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, is by far the closest to an Olympic medal on the tracks by an Indian female athlete. At the age of 16, she became the youngest Indian sprinter to compete in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Geeta Phogat

Geeta Phogat is a female wrestler from India who won India's first ever gold medal in women's wrestling in the 55kg freestyle category at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She was coached by her father and former wrestler, Mahavir Singh. She had earlier won gold in the 2009 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship. She also qualified for the 2012 London Olympics but luck was not in her favour. Phogat has also won a gold medal in the Wrestling FILA Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament that concluded at Almaty, Kazakhstan in April 2012. She has numerous other international medals to her credit, including three consecutive medals in the Asian Cadet Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In the Summer Olympics 2012, Geeta was beaten in her opening fight by Canadian Tonya Verbeek (1-3). In the repechage round, she lost her bronze medal match to Lazareva from Ukraine. She has been conferred with the Arjuna Award for outstanding achievement in National sports in 2012.

Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi

Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi broke two National Records in Trivandrum in 1987 and went on to win three silver medals in the World Women's Weightlifting Championship in Manchester in 1989. She also secured bronze medals at the Beijing Asian Games in 1990 and the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994. Continuing her winning spree, she won the Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Championships in Nauru in 1995 in the 48-kilogram category, besides winning one silver and two bronze medals in the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Shanghai in 1989, three Silver Medals in the 1991 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Indonesia and two Gold and one Bronze medal in the 46-kilogram category in the Asian Weightlifting Championship in 1995 in South Korea.

Anjali Bhagwat

Anjali Bhagwat, in full Anjali Vedpathak Bhagwat is an Indian rifle shooter who won the 2002 International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) Champion of Champions combined-air-rifle event to become the first Indian to win that competition. In 2002 she won four gold medals (in the solo and pair events of both the 10-metre air rifle and 50-metre three-position-rifle disciplines) at the Commonwealth Games and silver medals as part of the Indian women’s team at both the ISSF World Cup and Asian Games. She became the first Indian woman to receive a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Final when she won the 10-metre-air rifle event in 2003. Bhagwat also won a silver medal in the pair 50-metre three-position event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.