Women's Day: Sportswomen who took Indian sports to new heights
What's the story
Indian skipper Virat Kohli took to social media on International Women's Day to celebrate his wife Anushka Sharma's achievements. But the bigger picture here is the message that Virat Kohli was trying to pass on- 'Women are better than equal'. Here is our list of 5 women athletes who have made their mark in the sporting world.
Twitter Post
'Women are better than equal'
Tag the extraordinary woman in your life who is#BetterThanEqual @Staywrogn@AnushkaSharma ♥️ pic.twitter.com/NdjNEPYQjD
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 8, 2018
Captain fantastic
Indian women's team captain Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj is regarded as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the sport. She is the only woman to score 6,000+ runs in ODI cricket and is the first woman cricketer to score 7 consecutive 50+ scores in ODIs. She is also the first Indian captain (men or women) to have led India twice to the finals of ICC World Cup.
Payyoli Express
Legendary sprinter P. T. Usha
P. T. Usha is a former Indian track and field athlete. She is called "queen of Indian track and field". Nicknamed as the Payyoli Express, she competed in three Olympic Games, Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988. Her best performance came in 1986 in Asian Games where she won 4 gold medals and 1 silver.
Shuttle queens
Ace badminton duo Saina Nehwal & PV Sindhu
Badminton duo Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu have made the country proud on several occasions. While Saina Nehwal became the first Indian player to scale the number one ranking in Badminton, PV Sindhu won India a silver medal at the Rio games, which was India's best performance in the sport. These two are still young and have a lot of badminton left in them.
Grand Slam Champion
India's tennis queen Sania Mirza
Queen of Indian tennis, Sania Mirza is the first Indian player to be ranked number one in tennis (Doubles). She is India's number one doubles player and was ranked number one in women's doubles in 2015. She has won all four Grand Slams in the doubles category. She was named in Time Magazine's 2016 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Rio games sensation
Young gymnast Dipa Karmakar
Dipa Karmakar is an Indian gymnast who rose to fame during the 2016 Rio Olympic games. She is the first Indian female gymnast to compete at the Olympics and the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years. Dipa finished at a commendable 4th position in Rio. Karmakar is one of the only five women to have landed the 'produnova vault'.
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Happy International Women's Day.
'Don't let anyone tell you you're weak because you're a woman.'- Mary Kom.