Dipika Pallikal

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Dipika Pallikal (born 21 September 1991) is an Indian professional squash player. She was the first Indian player to break into the top 10 in the world rankings.[1]

Early life

Pallikal was born in Kottayam into a Malayali family.[2] She is the daughter of Sanjiv Pallikal and Susan Pallikal.[3][4] Her mother played international cricket for the Indian women's team, including India's inaugural women's Test match, in 1976.[5][6]

Career

Pallikal turned professional in 2006,[7] but her career was filled with ups and downs initially. She became more consistent and started notching up winning performances after her brief training stint in Egypt in the beginning of 2011.[7]

She clinched the first of her three WISPA titles for 2011 in September by winning the Orange County Open in Irvine, California.[8] She notched up her second in the United States with another WISPA tour event victory.[8] The third came in Hong Kong in the Crocodile Challenge Cup in December 2011 and that took her to number 17 in world rankings.[8] However, it was her performance in the World Open, where she was beaten in the quarterfinals, that led to her claiming a ranking of 14 as a result of these victories in February 2012, surpassing the earlier best world ranking by an Indian – 27th by former national champion Misha Grewal in 1995.[9]

In January 2012, she 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.[10] In August the same year, she went one step further when she reached the semi-finals of a gold event, the 2012 Australian Open, another first for any Indian.[11]

Deepika Pallikal was an integral part of the Indian squash team that finished fifth in the 2012 Women's World Team Squash Championships.[12] India, seeded tenth in the event, defeated higher ranked Netherlands and Ireland in the process.[13] She defeated players like Madeline Perry in the tournament.[14] Joshna Chinappa was another key player in the Indian line-up. In February 2013, she won the sixth WSA title of her career after outplaying Joey Chan of Hong Kong 11–9, 11–7, 11–4 in the final of the Meadowood Pharmacy Open in the Canadian city of Winnipeg.[15]

In December 2012, she achieved a career best of ranking of World No. 10.[1] She became the first female squash player to be conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award, in 2012.[16] In February 2014 she was back at number 10 in the Women's Squash Association (WSA) rankings despite enduring a tough start to the year.[17] At the 2014 Commonwealth Games she along with Joshna Chinappa won the squash women's doubles gold medal, making it India's first ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport.[18] Pallikal picked up her 10th Tour title in January 2015 after triumphing at the Winter Club Open.

Pallikal refused to participate in the National Championship between 2012 and 2015 due to the inequality in prize money where the women's championship winner was awarded only 40% of the prize money of the men's championship winner.[19] Equal prize money was agreed for the 2016 championships where she defeated Joshna Chinappa 4–11, 11–6, 11–2, 11–8, thus winning the title for the second time.[20]

At the February 2016 South Asian Games, she was part of the gold medal-winning Indian Women's team[21][22][23] She was then defeated in the first round of the 2016 PSA Women's World Championship in April.[24] In May she was part of the silver medal-winning Indian Women's team at the Asian Team Championship in Taipei, where India were beaten 2–0 in the finals by Malaysia.[25]

Pallikal Karthik competed under her maiden name (Pallikal) until 2016, adding her married name for the 2016-17 PSA Season commencing August 2016.[26] Following her second Indian national Title (see below) she continued her good form winning the Australian Open, her 11th PSA title in August 2016.[27]

Titles

File:Dipika Pallikal with Joshna Chinappa.jpg
Joshna Chinappa with Pallikal Karthik, 2012

Following are the highlights of Dipika's WSA tour career.[8]

Event Year Result
Template:Flagicon Winnipeg Winter Club Open 2015 Winner
Template:Flagicon Macau Squash Open 2013 Winner[28]
Template:Flagicon Meadowood Pharmacy Open 2013 Winner
Template:Flagicon Australian Open 2012 Semi-finals
Template:Flagicon Tournament of Champions 2012 Runner-up
Template:Flagicon Crocodile Challenge Cup 2011 Winner
Template:Flagicon World Open 2011 Quarter-final
Template:Flagicon Dread Sports Series 2011 Winner
Template:Flagicon Orange County Open 2011 Winner

Awards

File:The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Arjuna Award for the year-2012 to Ms. Deepika Pallikal for Squash, in a glittering ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on August 29, 2012.jpg
Pallikal Karthik receiving the Arjuna Award in 2012
Award Year
Arjuna Award[16] 2012
Padma Shri[29] 2014

Personal life

Pallikal studied at Ethiraj College for Women, majoring in English from 2012-2013. On 15 November 2013, she got engaged to Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik.[30][31] They married in the traditional Christian wedding style on 18 August 2015 and the Hindu wedding style on 20 August 2015.[32] The couple became parents to twin boys, Kabir and Zian, on 18 October 2021. And they announced the birth of their daughter on 19th March 2026.[33]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dipika Pallikal is first Indian to break into top 10. The Indian Express(1 January 2012).
  2. ↑ Local Sports News – Malayalee Dipika Pallikal wins in straight games to net sixth WSA title (Picture Album). Ukmalayalee.com(21 September 1991). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Manorama Online – Home. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Dipika Pallikal, the hot girl of Indian squash. Indiatvnews.com(21 September 1991). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Susan Itticheria. Cricinfo.
  6. ↑ Abishek Mukherjee (20 August 2015). "Susan Itticheria-Dinesh Karthik and other cricket in-laws" – Cricket Country. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Pallikal wins three WISPA titles. jagran.com.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Profile at squashinfo.com. squashinfo.com.
  9. ↑ Who is Dipika Pallikal - A squash poster-girl and a supermom, Nag, Utathya. Olympics.com(2023-11-11). Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  10. ↑ Dipika Pallikal storms into final of Tournament of Champions – The Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com(26 January 2012). Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  11. ↑ Dipika reaches Australian Open semi-final. worldsquash.org(17 August 2012).
  12. ↑ India finish fifth in World Team Squash(18 September 2012).
  13. ↑ India exit squash World Championships. sportal.co.in(16 November 2012).Template:Dead link
  14. ↑ India upset Ireland in World Team Squash Championship(13 September 2012).
  15. ↑ Dipika Pallikal wins Meadowood Pharmacy Open – Times of India. timesofindia.indiatimes.com(4 February 2013). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Arjuna Awardees for 2012. Times of India(29 August 2012).
  17. ↑ Dipika Pallikal returns to top 10 of squash world rankings – Sportskeeda. Sportskeeda.com(5 February 2014). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  18. ↑ Dipika and Joshna create history, Vinod, A.(2 August 2014). Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  19. ↑ Dipika Pallikal wants equal prize money. The Times of India(10 July 2015).
  20. ↑ Dipika Pallikal, Saurav Ghosal clinch national squash titles | More sports News - Times of India. The Times of India(17 July 2016).
  21. ↑ Squash Rackets Federation of India. www.indiasquash.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  22. ↑ PHOTOS: India's gold-glut continues at South Asian Games - Rediff.com Sports. www.rediff.com.
  23. ↑ India begin well in the team event of squash in the SAG 2016. sportingindia.com(8 February 2016). Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  24. ↑ WWC Update: Au Holds Off Pallikal to Seal Second Round Spot - Professional Squash Association. psaworldtour.com(26 April 2016).
  25. ↑ Asian Squash Championships: Indian women go down fighting(15 May 2016).
  26. ↑ Dipika Pallikal Karthik - Professional Squash Association. psaworldtour.com.
  27. ↑ Al Tamimi and Pallikal Karthik Capture Australian Open Crowns - Professional Squash Association. psaworldtour.com(12 August 2016).
  28. ↑ Dipika triumphs(21 October 2013). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  29. ↑ Paes, Gopichand, Yuvraj, Dipika get Padma awards. Biharprabha News. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  30. ↑ Cricket meets squash: Dinesh Karthik is engaged to Dipika Pallikal. The Indian Express(30 November 2013). Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  31. ↑ Cricketer Dinesh Karthik engaged to squash star Dipika Pallikal.
  32. ↑ Dinesh Karthik Gets Married Twice in Three Days... to Dipika Pallikal!. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
  33. ↑ Dinesh Karthik and wife Dipika Pallikal blessed with twins! Adorable pictures of the new parents will melt your heart(29 October 2021). Retrieved 29 October 2021.

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