WOMEN SPORTS IN INDIA

Susmita Guha

                        

There are many sport in India like-cricket, chess, badminton, field hockey, tennis, football, golf etc. Field Hockey, in which India has an impressive record with eight Olympic gold medals, is officially the national sport. Other popular games are football, cricket, basketball, volleyball and badminton and many people make an emotional investment in their favorite’s spectator sports. Cricket has become the most popular Sport in India.

Women in Sports

Despite female participation in sports still being considered a taboo in some section of our society, over the years they have been several of our leading ladies who have achieved a grate success at the International Level. These women have dealt with disinterest from the Government & in many cases bias to achieve their dreams & in a way brought about a culture change as more & more women are taking up sports.

The year 2010 is the year of International Women Year. Now the women are compete neck to neck with the men in many fields, even in sports. They are not only participating but also get success in these fields.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPORTS

ATHLETICS                  

PT Usha is to be considered as India’s first female sporting icons. The queen of Indian Track & field became the first Indian women & fifth Indian to qualify for the finals of an Olympic individual events final when she won her 400mtrs semifinal n 1984 Los Angeles Olympiad. Usha has been associated with Indian Athletics for the last three decades& is a grate source of inspiration for the other Indian sportswomen.

BADMINTON

                                                                         Saina Nehwal

The youngest person in this field is Saina Nehwal.She shows a grate potential from a young age. Saina is now ranked NO. 10 in the World & was voted for the Most Promising player in 2008. Saina won gold medal for women badminton single in 19^th Commonwealth Games 2010.She won the 38^th gold medal for India.Ashwini Ponnapa & Jwala Gutta won gold medal for women badminton double in 19^th Commonwealth Games 2010.

WEIGHTLIFTING                                                   

Karnam Malleshwari is the only one female who have won the Olympic Gold Medal. A multiple medal winner in World Championship, she won all awards there are on offer from the Government of India. In the 19^th Commonwealth Games Renu Bala won the gold medal for weightlifting, 58 kegs.

TENNIS

                                                               Tennis Queen Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza can be considered the first female sporting celebrity. She burst on the World stage when she reached the 3^rd round of the Australian Open in 2005 where she lost to eventual champions Serena Williams. After that she rose up the ranking ladder quickly as high as No 27.

CHESS  

Koneru Humpy once held the record for the youngest Grandmaster in chess history, when she attained the title at the age of 15years. The former junior world Champion became only the 2^nd female chess player to cross the 2600ELO marking in October 2007. She is currently world no.2 according to the January ranking from FIDE.

TABLE TENNIS

                                                   Table Tennis Player Poulami Ghatak

                                                                                                     

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth to each other with rackets. In the 19^th Commonwealth Games2010 Poulami Ghatak & Mouma Das won bronze medal for women table tennis in double. They also won silver medal for women table tennis in group.

WRESTLING

Wrestling events for the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be held on Indira Gandhi Arena on 5 to 10 October. Indian women wrestlers Geeta, & Nirmala won gold medal in this game on 7^th October, 2010. Wrestler Geeta defeated Emily Bensted of Australia in the 55kg category. Nirmala Devi won the silver medal in 48kg (freestyle) by defeating Carol Huynh of Canada. Indian women wrestlers Anita won the gold in the freestyle 67kg category.

The 19^th Commonwealth Games 2010 was held in New Delhi between 3rd October t 14^th October. In this game women created a huge success. They won many medals including gold & silver. Now they are compete with men & get success in this field. We hope that one day the women sports will be create a history & make us proud as Indian. India also will be proud of these women. I salute to them.