5 lesser known sportswomen who are making India proud

In recent times, female sportspersons have been bringing several laurels to India. While stars like Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, Anjum Chopra, Jwala Gutta or Deepika Kumari are as famous as their male counterparts and loved by millions of fans, there are several other female sporting talents, who are quietly garnering medals for the country.They are young, talented and not afraid to take risks in their carrers. These athletes, have fought not just infrastructural, but societal barriers as well to reach the summit in their sports. Here are five lesser sportswomen, who are making the country proud.

#1 Arunima Sinha (Mountaineering)

Arunima Sinha is a picture of inspiration and courage

Arunima Sinha is the first Indian female amputee to climb Mount Everest. She scaled the world’s highest mountain on 21 May 2013, as part of the Tata Group sponsored Eco Everest Expedition with the help of a prosthetic leg. She took 52 days to reach the summit.

A national level volleyball and football player, Sinha was pushed from a running train by thieves in 2011, as they tried to rob her. In attempt to resist them, she was pushed onto the train tracks. Another train running on the parallel track crushed one of her legs from below the knees. As a result, one of her legs had to be amputated.

As she was undergoing treatment, the 27-year old was inspired by Yuvraj Singh’s recovery from cancer and decided that she wanted to climb Mount Everest. Sinha got in touch with Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest and trained under her.

In preparation for her Everest climb, Sinha scaled the Island Peak in 2012.

She has written a book Born Again on the Mountain, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December, 2014.

She was a Padma Shri recipient in 2015.

#2 Arantxa Sanchis (Snooker and Billiards)

Arantxa Sanchis overcame an eye disease to win the World Championship

Cue sports in India is mostly popular because of one name: Pankaj Advani. What frequently remains unsaid is that, women too have been contibuting to cue sports in India in recent times.

Meet Arantxa Sanchis, who won gold at the recently conluded World Snooker Championship.

Prior to 2013, India had never won a major women’s cue sports title on the International stage but since then Indian women’s cue sports has consistently done well on the world stage.

In the 2015 World Championship in Australia, Sanchis went onto create history by becoming the first woman from India to win an individual world title in both Billiards and Snooker, something that only Pankaj Advani has previously achieved.

What makes Sanchis an embodiment of perseverance is the fact that she never gave up. In 2013, she was diagnosed with Kerataconus, a degenerative eye disease, which affects the magnitude of one’s eyesight. This was a huge blow for her cue-sports career, as the sports demands perfect eyesight and aim. Inspite of that, she went on to win the World Championship.

#3 Koneru Humpy (Chess)

Humpy Koneru is the second ranked female chess played in the world

In 2002, Koneru rose to fame as she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of grandmaster at the age of 15 years, 1 month, 27 days, beating Judit Polgár's previous mark by three months.

In October 2007, she became the second female player, after Judit Polgar, to exceed the 2600 Elo rating mark, being rated 2606.

The 28 year old from Andhra Pradesh participated in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–2011 and finished in overall second position, as a result of which, she qualified as a challenger for Women's World Chess Championship 2011. She was a runner-up in the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–20114, where she lost to Hou Yifan in the final stage.

She was ranked number one when she went into Women's World Chess Championship 2015, but was knocked out in the quarter-final by Mariya Muzychuuk, who won the championship.

Most recently, she won the individual bronze at the Women's World Team Chess Championship 2015 held in Chengdu, China.

Presently, Humpy is the second ranked female chess player in the world.

#4 Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics)

Dipa Karmakar created history by winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games

In the Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championship, held in Japan, 2015, Dipa Karmakar won the bronze in women’s Vault while finishing 8th in the Balance Beam event.

Karmakar, hailing from Agartala, Tripura is an artistic gymnast, who created history by winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to do so. She landed the Produnova vault in competition, which few women athletes gymnasts have successfully managed to achieved.

The 22 year old star received an overall score of 14.366, making her the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth gymnastics medal and the second Indian, after Ashish Kumar.

Prior to the CW Games, she participated in the 2014 Asian Games, where Karmakar finished fourth in the Vault final with a score of 14.200 behind Hong Un-jong, Oksana Chusovitina, and Phan Th Hà Thanh.

The star has big dreams and hopes to bring more medals to the country.

#5 Lalita Babar (Athletics)

Lalita Babar holds the national record in 3000 metres steeplechase

Lalita Babar holds the current Indian national record for long-distance running and competes in the 3000 metres steeplechase.

The 26 year old was motivated to begin her career in track and field athletics after became the hat-trick winner of the Mumbai Marathon.

Her unwavering determination led her to win medals in events like the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. She switched to 3000 metres steeplechase in January 2014, following her win at the marathon.

At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, she won the bronze medal clocking 9:35.37 in the final. In the process, she broke the national record previously held by Sudha Singh.

At the 2015 Asian Championships in Wuhan,China, Babar won the gold medal clocking 9:34.13 which led her to break three records – her own personal record, the Indian national record and the games record. Her exceptional performance helped her to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The youngster from Maharashtra was highly successful at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing with a time of 9:27.86 in her qualifying heat, which shattered the national record. However, she placed eighth in the final.

A lot of hopes are riding on this star for the 2016 Rio Olympics.