Young girls of Gujarat have recently brought many laurels to the state in the sporting arena. Thanks to the rising number of sports academies and schools in the state, who are on the lookout for young sporting prodigies. The state has a tradition of churning out champions. Dipika Murthy from Ahmedabad was the goalie of the Indian women’s national field hockey team that won gold in the 2004 Asian Games. Tennis player Nova Patel represented the country in the world junior championship. Swimmer Parita Parikh represented India in the 2007 World Aquatics Championships at Melbourne. Mini Singh was the runners-up at the 20th SLGA Amateur Open Golf Championship in Singapore. Young crop of players are following in the footsteps of their predecessors. We look at four girls from the state, who are making their presence felt in the international sporting arena.
Mallika Patel (Football)
Mallika says she used to watch boys play football and that’s how she got interested in the sport. “I spoke to Kuldip Gadhvi, the sports coordinator at my school JG International in Ahmedabad, and he was encouraging. Playing with boys made me fast and improved my stamina. I am a Lionel Messi fan,” Mallika says. Mallika’s performance in tournaments and camps was noticed and she got selected to the national team for the AFC U-13 Girl’s Football Tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Her performance as a goal-keeper was much appreciated at the tournament. She conceded just one goal to Jordan in India’s victory run against Iran, Bhutan, hosts Sri Lanka, Jordan and Palestine. “It is always a team effort,” says Mallika. “I am tall for my age and that is an added bonus, especially when it comes to goal keeping. It was very exciting and I am looking forward to improving my skills and playing a lot more. It feels great to be wearing my country’s colours.”
Gadhvi says, “Mallika is a versatile player who can play at different positions. She is a good athlete who excels in other sports too, because of her height she was asked to be a goal-keeper and she proved her mettle.”
Anoushka Parikh (Badminton)
Anoushka is proud of the bronze medal she won for India in the under-15 girls doubles category at The Badminton Asia Youth Championships 2011. “Gujarat is not known for badminton, but in recent years many players from the state have started doing well in the sport like Surat girl Anjali Rawat and Ahmedabad boy Adrian George,” says Anoushka. It is probably the first international badminton medal won by a girl from Gujarat. Anoushka, who is ranked 2nd in doubles and 5th in singles at the national level, played skating, tennis and cricket before finding her true calling in badminton. This 14-year-old was coached by Unnikrshna Varma at a club in Ahmedabad from 2005. In January 2011, Anoushka’s talent was noticed at the national level when she won silver in under-14, individual and team events at the National School Games in Chandigarh and this paved the way for her selection to the Indian team. This year in February, Anoushka and Anjali Rawat won a bronze medal in the under-17 category at the 36th Junior National Badminton Championship.
Anoushka has undergone training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore. “I have grown up admiring Padukone’s victories for India, and the games of players trained at his academy, so getting invited for a special training camp there was like a dream,” says Anoushka.
Vandita Dhariyal (Swimming)
As a child, Vandita started swimming at the Ellisbridge Gymkhana. “My parents Yogesh and Nilima and the club coaches encouraged me when they saw my performance in the inter-club competitions. In 2007 at Goa, I secured first place in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly event in the under-14 category of the National School Games and in 10-12 years category at the Nationals. From then to 2012, I have a medal count of 39 at the nationals, including 17 gold,” says Vandita. She has made her presence felt in the international arena as well. “In 2007, I won gold in 4x100m free-style relay and silver in 50m butterfly event in under-14 category at the South Asian Swimming Championship in Islamabad. At the South Asian Games in Dhaka, I won silver in the 100m butterfly event in women’s open category,” says Vandita. She represented India in the 13th Fina World Championship at Rome in 2009. She also represented India at Asian events in Tokyo and Vietnam, and the World School Games at Doha in 2009. One of her most notable performances was in the 55th National School Games at Subhas Sarovar in Kolkata where she set a national record in the under-17 category of the 100m butterfly event.
A Class XI student of Prakash School, Vandita hopes to make the cut for international events this year too.
Zeel Desai (Tennis)
At 13, Zeel has reason to be proud — she has been champion or runner-up in 45 national level tennis tournaments. While she has won many national tournaments of the All India Tennis Association, her present coach Jignesh Rawal of Ahmedabad Tennis and Racquet Academy opines, “This 13-year-old showed her mettle at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament where she was pitted against 16-year-old players. She qualified for the tournament in Indore and won the first round. She went down in the second round to Snehadevi S Reddy, the title winner. An international coach under whom she is training at our academy feels she has excellent eye-hand coordination.”
A Class VIII student, Zeel is ranked eight in under-14 category at national level. Zeel says, “My dream is to play for India in international grand slam events and win for my country.”