An Article by Veronica Peer
Kashmir is known for its cultural heritage, traditions, civilization, religion and geographical features from the ancient time. But like any other part of the country it has also suffered from male chauvinism. Women were limited only for the household chores or understand the responsibility of home and family members. They were kept totally unaware of their rights and own development. But with time and access to right sources, women of Kashmir have evolved and made an impact in the society. Kashmir, the land has produced many great Rishis, scholars, poets/writers and legends.
Women have equally been contributing to the rich history of Kashmir. Names like Lal ded and Roopa Bhawani being the best examples. Women of kashmir have always been a great source of inspiration for the generations. Our grandmothers and mothers are no less when it comes to the upliftment of the entire community, their contribution and sacrifices can never go unnoticed. They are the unique source of our identities.
In the present world as well women of the community are making us proud. Be it academics, corporate, entertainment industry or sports, kashmiri women have made their marks in every field and set a bench mark for the generations to follow.
And when we talk of sports the name that comes to our mind is Ankita Raina, the tennis star. The pride of kashmir and the first ever kashmiri women who has made such a big name in tennis globally.
(Image source – Twitter)
Ankita Ravinderkishan Raina, a tennis player born on 11 january 1993 to Ravinderkishen and Lalita Raina in Ahmedabad, Gujrat. She is currently no.1 in women’s single in India. She is playing for India at the Fed Cup and is supported by the Sports Authority of Gujrat. Ankita Started playing at a very young age of 14 and has taken the entire country by surprise with her unmatched skills and brilliance. She has won six singles and thirteen doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On 9 April 2018, she entered into top 200 singles ranking of world becoming only third Indian to achieve this feat.On 5 January 2015, she peaked at world number 260 in the doubles rankings. Ankita has also won Gold medals in the women’s singles and mixed doubles events at the 2016 South Asian Games.
Although the budding player competed in just 11 competitions outside the country in the whole of 2013 due to financial constraints. But beacuse of her eminence and aptitude the gujrat government decided to intervene and fund her tours. She has already travelled for seven tournaments abroad in a mere five months this season.
Ankita’a acheivements so far have been exemplary. (File Photo – TOI)
Following a promising junior career, Ankita made her first professional appearance in 2009, at a small ITF tournament in mumbai. Ankita’s 2011 season saw her advance to three ITF Circuit finals in doubles. In 2012, she won her first professional singles title in New Delhi as well as winning three more in doubles. In 2013, she continued to climb up the rankings, climbing to No. 291 in October. In April 2018, she reached a ranking of 181 becoming the fourth Indian national to crack to top-200 ladies singles rankings.
In August 2018, Ankita won bronze medal in Asian Games at Jakarta, Indonesia in Singles event.
She has progressively worked her way up the ITF circuit after starting in 2009. She has won five singles titles and done well in China, one of the toughest places to succeed in Asia. She has also played during the grasscourt season in Europe, with Porsche Open being one of the highlights.
Coming from a middle-class Kashmiri family in Ahmedabad, she picked up the tennis racket because her elder brother, Ankur, used to play the sport at a nearby club. Their mother, a huge sports fan and a college-level athlete herself, used to take Ankur to the tennis court. Ankita used to accompany him since the age of two and thus picked up the sport at a very young age. Her then recreational hobby soon began to take a significant place in the lives of Ankita and her family.
After winning state level tourneys, her first big moment came when she played the Future Kids – a talent hunt conducted by All India Tennis Association – representing Gujarat at MSLTA in Mumbai. Her family was not willing to let her participate at first since she was only eight. But her brother insisted and convinced the family to let her play. The next five years was about playing in as many and winning age-group tournaments to further her training.
Ankita and her brother used to play play at the PYC Gymkhana in Pune during vacations as they had family there and seen several Gujarat players improve under coach Hemnat Bendre. So she moved to Pune and stayed with her mother’s family starting her full-fledged training.
The huge turning point in her young career was in 2007 when she played The Under-14 Asian Tennis Series. Ankita not only reached the top-eight, she played the final in Australia, losing to a South Korean girl and finishing as Asias No 2. This was, if any needed, the sign that Ankita is going to make her future in tennis.
Ankita has definitely come a long way and overcame all the hurdles to acheive what she has till now. All we need to do as a community is believe in her and show our support for Ankita to keep excelling and reach for the stars. Given Ankita’s perseverance so far, no challenge will be big enough to bog her down and make all of us proud.
