India's 10 Most Inspirational Sportswomen

Sania Mirza: A two time Grand Slam champion, Sania Mirza has been India's number 1 women's tennis player for almost a decade in singles and doubles. This tennis ace who has a combination of beauty and talent was the first Indian woman to get to the fourth round of a Grand Slam Tournament at the 2005 U.S. Open. She won the mixed doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open as well by pairing with Mahesh Bhupati. She became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title.

In 2006, Doha Asian Games, Mirza won silver in the woman’s singles category and gold in the mixed doubles with partner Leander Paes.  She is the first Indian ever to break into the top 30 WTA rankings in singles and top 10 in doubles. Sania has been honored with the prestigious Padam shri in 2006 and Arjuna Award in 2004. A strong-headed lady, she defied cynics and married Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik in 2010, making it one of the most talked about marriage alliances in the history of both nations.

Dipika Pallikal: Squash player Dipika Pallikal is the first Indian women to break into the top 20 in the World Squash Rankings. She is a fabulous squash player from Chennai. Till date, Pallikal has won the German Open, Dutch Open, French Open, Australian Open, and Scottish Open on the European Junior Squash Circuit. She became the first Indian to make to the last eight of the World Open Squash. Dipika began 2011 at 29th spot and claimed her third WISPA title of the year in December in the Crocodile Challenge Cup in Hong Kong and that took her to number 17 in world rankings. In January 2012, Pallikal became the first Indian ever to reach the summit clash of a Silver event when she reached the final of the Tournament of Champions squash meet in New York. She climbed to her career-best ranking of 14th in February this year, surpassing the earlier best world ranking by an Indian - 27th by former national champion Misha Grewal in 1995. She defines glamour and has bagged a modeling contract with Globus Ltd.

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