Pallikal is engaged to cricketer Diniesh Karthik.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian squash player Dipika Pallikal lost the final match of the Women’s Champion Texas Open in Houston, succumbing in three sets to Egyptian player Nour El Sherbini.
Pallikal, 22, is the first Indian woman to ever crack the top 10 of the Women’s Squash Association’s (WSA) rankings, and currently sits at #12 worldwide. A victory in Houston would have netted Pallikal her first-ever major title; instead, the title went to El Sherbini, an 18 year-old squash wunderkind out of Egypt, who came into the tournament sitting just below Pallikal in the rankings.
Although her parents originally hail from Kerala, Pallikal was born in Chennai, and began playing squash at a young age. She turned professional in 2006, and quickly established herself as one of the sport’s best rising stars. Despite her obvious talent, her performance was inconsistent, and only really began gaining traction in 2011, when she won the Orange Count Open.
That was the first of her three Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) titles, with her other two wins coming shortly thereafter in the US and Hong Kong. A string of victories took her to #14 in the world in February of 2012, breaking the record of the highest-ranked Indian women up to that point, which had been held by 27th-ranked Misha Grewal since 1995.
In December of 2012, Pallika achieved her career-best #10 ranking, becoming the first Indian woman to ever break the top ten. Since then, she has fallen down a handful of spots, and has struggled to regain the #10 ranking – a victory in Houston would have propelled her far closer to that goal.
Her most recent tournament win came in 2013, winning the Macau Squash Cup. She also won the Meadowood Pharmacy Open in Canada last year, and the Crocodile Challenge Cup in 2012. She has a total of seven titles to her name, and made it to the quarterfinals of the World Open in 2011.
She was recognized by the Indian government with the Arjuna Award in 2012. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honor bestowed by the country’s government. She is currently engaged to fellow athlete and cricket star, Dinesh Karthik.