Women in Love... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza is the first female tennis player from India to make a mark on the global circuit. With a peak ranking of 27 achieved in 2007, she became the highest ever ranked Indian female tennis player at the time. Though her singles career was cut short by a wrist injury, she made a comeback in the doubles category winning both mixed doubles and women's doubles titles. Along with partner Martina Hingis, she won the women's doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015 and the Australian Open in 2016.

She also won the mixed doubles title with fellow Indian tennis player, Mahesh Bhupati at the Australian Open in 2009 and French Open in 2012 and won the US Open in 2014 with Brazilian, Bruno Soares.

Answer: Dipa Karmakar

The Produnova is type of vault performed in gymnastics. It is considered one of the most difficult to perform and is nicknamed the "vault of death" due to the high possibility of resulting in an injury if performed incorrectly. The level of difficulty can be gauged by the fact that historically only five gymnasts worldwide, including Karmakar, have successfully landed it. Add to this the pressure of performing at the Olympics for the first time and Dipa Karmakar's feat becomes all the more admirable.

She missed out on a podium finish at Rio, coming in fourth place, but two years later became the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at an international event when she won the title at the World Gymnastic Championship in Turkey.

Answer: Hima Das

Nicknamed the "Dhing Express", Hima Das hails from the state of Assam. She dashed into the spotlight when she won a gold medal in the 400 meters event at the IAAF World U20 Championships in 2018, the first Indian athlete to do so. Clocking a time of 51.46 seconds, Hima was the first Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at any international track and field event. Later the same year at the Asian Games held in Indonesia, she set the national record for 400 meters at 50.79 seconds, earning her a silver medal at the Games.

Answer: Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj is an Indian cricketer who has captained the side in both Test cricket and the One Day International (ODI) format. She has multiple records to her credit including the first cricketer to captain an Indian side in two World Cup finals, the first female cricketer to score 6,000 runs in ODIs, and the first female cricketer to score 2,000 runs in the Twenty20 format.

Answer: P.V. Sindhu

Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, or PV Sindhu as she is better known, is from the state of Andhra Pradesh. Her parents were both national level volleyball players. Sindhu first caught the attention of the media when in 2012 at the age of 17 she made it to the top 20 ranking of the Badminton World Federation.

This was followed by a silver medal in the World Championships in 2013. In the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio, Sindhu finished second in the women's singles event earning numerous records including the first Indian sportswoman to win a silver at the Olympics and the youngest Indian to win a medal in an individual event at the Olympics.

Answer: Mary D'Souza

Despite her stellar achievements on the sporting field, Mary D'Souza was relatively unknown with the Indian sporting establishment failing to adequately recognize her contribution till as recently as 2013 when she was awarded the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games. Mary was the first woman to represent India at the Olympics when she participated in the women's 100 metres at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

She went on to win the gold at the 1954 Asian Games in Manila in the 4x100 relay.

This isn't all! She was also part of the Indian women's hockey team that competed in the International Women's Field Hockey Tournament in Australia in 1956 and was the top scorer for the Indian side.

Answer: Sakshi Malik

Born in Rohtak, Haryana, Sakshi Malik was inspired by her grandfather, a wrestler himself, to take up the sport. She was first noticed when she won the bronze medal at the 2010 Junior World Championships. This was followed by another bronze medal at the 2013 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a bronze again at the 2015 Asian Wrestling Championship.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Sakshi won the bronze in the 58 kg category making her India's first female wrestler to win an Olympic medal.

Answer: Dipika Pallikal

Dipika Pallikal was the first Indian female squash player to make it to the top 10 rankings of the Official World Rankings for squash players when she ranked no. 10 in 2012. She won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 in the women's doubles category and followed this with a silver each in the 2018 Games in the women's doubles and mixed doubles categories.

She has also won bronze medals in the single's category at the Asian Games in 2014 and 2018.

Answer: Karnam Malleswari

Hailing from a small village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, Karnam Malleswari had begun training in this sport since the age of 12. Prior to her participation in the Olympics, Karnam had won gold in her category at the World Weightlifting Championship in 1994 and 1995.

She went on to win the silver at the Asian Games in 1994 and 1998 and was awarded India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 1999. Her crowning achievement was the bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, making her the first Indian sportswoman to win a medal at the Olympics.

Answer: Mary Kom

While I admire all the sportswomen covered in this quiz, and a few others I couldn't fit in, Mary Kom is my favourite. Born Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte, Mary's achievements have earned her the nickname of "Magnificent Mary". Coming from a poor family in the state of Manipur where her parents were tenant farmers, Mary initially trained in athletics. It was only after Dingko Singh, another Manipuri, won a gold at the 1998 Asian Games in boxing, did Mary take up boxing seriously. She moved to the state capital of Imphal for better training opportunities without telling her parents that she had moved from athletics to boxing. Her father was concerned that boxing would scar her face reducing her chances of getting a good match for marriage. When Mary won the state boxing title in 2000, her parents came to know of her sport through the newspaper articles.

Having won many international titles, Mary took a break and returned to the sport after the birth of her twin sons and went on to climb back to the top of the ladder. Her achievements include being the first woman to have won the World Amateur Boxing championship six times, the first female boxer to have won a medal in each one of the seven world championships and the first Indian female boxer to have won a gold at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately for Mary, boxing opened up for women at the Olympics only at the 2012 London Games so she missed out on competing for an Olympic medal during the prime years of her career. She won a bronze medal at London 2012 despite having to compete in the 51 kg category, as there were only three categories for women and these did not include the 46 and 48 kg categories where she generally competed.