Dipika Pallikal: The New Poster Girl

Not one to be complacent, India’s no. 1 squash player, Dipika Pallikal, dreams of being the world’s top one.

Winner of the German Open, Dutch Open, French Open, Australian Open and Scottish Open on the European Junior Squash Circuit, Arjunaaward winner Dipika Pallikal is the highest ranked Indian woman squash player in the world. Her tryst with the courts began by playing tennis, but one summer on a friend’s insistence Dipika joined the Squash Coaching Camp. She got into the rhythm really soon and began hitting the squash ball well enough to be a national champion by the age of 11. At 14, she moved to Egypt to train. What followed was an immense amount of success, which she attributes to her coach, also her ‘friend, philosopher and guide’, five-time world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald. The turning point in her career came when she became the first Indian to break into the top 10 in the WSA rankings. And more recently, she beat world no. 1 Rachel Grinham at the Macau Open. “It’s the desire to reach the very top that keeps me training harder, and not rest on my laurels, having reached the top 10 bracket already,” says the champion. “The biggest lesson I’ve learnt on the court is that if you stay motivated and dream big, impossible is nothing.” Atta girl, we say!

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Photography: Jitu Savlani. Hair and make-up: Mahendra Gupta. Styling: Esha Amin.

From the December 2013 issue of L’Officiel India.