At the World Team Championships in Chennai one would often see
Dipika Pallikal interacting with the Egyptians who had come with the
side aspiring to win the title. Her mom went out of her way to
ensure that the Egyptians were comfortable in Dipika’s hometown.
Dipika was just repaying the debt of gratitude to her Egyptian
coaches, like Mohamed Essam Saleh, who were helping her [indeed,
Egyptian coach Amr Wagih was trying to claim another half title for
Egypt at the event, as if their six weren't enough!]
And the ultimate happened when Dipika beat Egyptian top seed Heba El
Torky to win the British Junior Open U-17 title.
For years Dipika has been in the shadow of Joshna Chinappa. Now she
is finally out of it by virtue of winning the British Junior U-17
title to emulate Joshna.
One remembers seeing a young Dipika in events in Mumbai. She was the
dusky beauty. It was sad to see her in tears losing to Anwesha Reddy
in an U-15 final, but the smile was back when she won the U-17
final, this time beating Anwesha.
Dipika Rebecca Pallikal, to give her full name, was born on
September 21st 1991. Sport runs in the family. Grandmom represented
Kerala state in athletics, grandpa represented three states in
basketball. Father played cricket for his college and mother Susan
represented India in cricket. One sister Diya plays basketball while
the other Divya’s sport is cheering Dipika.
 Dipika
had won the German, Dutch, French, Australian and Scottish Junior
Opens but not the British in five attempts. She is only the second
Indian woman to do so, and rose to a career-high 64 in the world
rankings in December 2007
Her family and Mahesh Bhupathi’s Globosport spared nothing to make
her game grow. They had an apartment in Cairo where she trained from
time to time.
Dipika was offered to star in Tamil movies, which she refused for
the moment as squash was her passion. The year 2001 was the turning
point in her career. She gave up tennis for squash. From the age of
nine she was guided by Cryus Poncha and gave notice by beating the
boys of her age. She got membership to the India Cements Squash
Academy in 2002, became the National Champion at the age of 11 and
never looked back.
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Quotes from Dipika's website:
I don’t remember what I haven’t got in life.
I remember my mom praying a lot and telling me that “if god be with
us, who can be against.”
I believe and trust in God and know that with his help I can go
places. He has always been a great part in my victories and has
always brought me out of troubled waters.
www.dipikapallikal.com
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