Tamil Nadu, the state for all the cultural activities is also sports centered a state. The main highlight of the sportsmen from here are their stamina and dedicated mind in their field. The climate over Tamil Nadu is very hot, and they have rare cold seasons. Athletes from Tamil Nadu practice in hotter time also. Their dedicated mind pays them many victories. The Tamil Nadu Women, today are respected in the entire country. Some of the popular sportswomen from Tamil Nadu are the following.
1. Nirupama Vaidyanathan
She is the first South Indian woman who became famous for the sport tennis. She is the first Indian woman to win a round at a Grand Slam in the modern era. Her career achievements in WTA (World Tennis Achievements) is 134 th rank in singles and 129 in doubles in 1997. Her win over Gloria Pizzichini at the 1998 Australian Open was highly appreciable and noted. That was the first golden feather to her crown, and she values that as the best moment in her life. For the past 5 years, she was in the top position in India in a Fed cup. India qualified for the first time in the Asian zone that year. She won four gold medals at the South Asian Federation games 1995 in the team event,individual singles, doubles and mixed double events. The tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi is her partner in mixed doubles. Both have an awesome co-ordination and understand each other very best. Nirupama started her craze towards tennis at the age of 6. It was her father Vaidyanathan who gave full support and coaching at the earlier stage. Her father, lawyer by profession is a first class cricketer. After her retirement, she has been seen in ESPN channel with Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj giving commentary for Wimbledon, Grand Slam and U.S open. She is settled in America now, and she runs a tennis coaching camp at California.
2. Sabeena Salim
Sabeena is the self taught player in the field of Bowling. She made all the critics and selectors mouth shut. She is the Indian Bowler from Tamil Nadu. At her earlier years also she was very much indulged in sports. She represented her school team for cricket , throw a ball and basketball. She got the luck to play with her daughter in championship . She took bowling as a professional career on 1998 when she saw her daughter bowling in some local clubs. At the year 2001 she was titled national Championship. She gives all the credit of her achievements completely to her husband Anwar Salim. Being a conservative Muslim family, it was her husband who gave full support. It was her daughter Sana’s performance provoked her sportsman spirit and made bowling as her sport. Her daughter Sana is also a professional bowler of Tamil Nadu and had won in many events. This mother and daughter are creating history, wherever they are participating. They created a history for the Indian bowling team for the Asian Games in Doha. It is for the first time in the history of Indian Bowling that a mother and her daughter have made it to the Asian Games simultaneously.
3. Vijayalaksmi Subbaraman
The great Grandmaster in Chess from Tamil Nadu. Both the chess maestros are from Tamil Nadu. One is VIswanathan Anand and Vijayalakshmi. She is ranked 20th among women in the world. She holds many records and achieved in many events. She is the first women Grandmaster from India. Her achievements are countless. She is the first Indian women for maximum number of medals in Chess Olympiads. She is the numerous uno in all the chess championship at any age groups. Her career spans from 1999 to 2007. The most notable games are S Vijayalakshmi vs Sasikiran held in the year 2000. As on July 2007, her current FIDE rating is 2464.
4. Santhi Soundarajan
She is the women that raised the hopes and a position in Athletics for Tamil Nadu. She is one of the athletes that a state could ever have. She is an athlete who had completed the middle track events the who competes in the middle distance track events. She holds many records inside and outside her state and country. Santhi holds the national record for the women’s 3000 meters steeplechase clocking 10:44.65 seconds. At a national meet in Bangalore in July 2005, she won the 800m, 1500m and 3000m. She won the silver medal in 800 m at the Asian Championships in Incheon, South Korea in 2005. She was accused of her gender verification stating that she can’t participate in Women’s championship and her awards was taken back by the committee. Santhi Soundarajan bagged the silver medal in the women’s 800 meter event at the 16th Asian Athletics Championship in Incheon. Santhi clocked two minutes 04.01 seconds, her fastest of the season, to follow gold medalist Miho Sugimori of Japan, who finished in 2:01.84 seconds. She was rewarded 15 lakhs by the Tamil Nadu chief minister M.Karunanidhi.
5. Meenakshi Subbaraman
Another Grandmaster from chess in Tamil Nadu. She is the sister of the chess legend Vijayalakshmi. Her starting stage was with her sister, and she helped a lot for her success. Throughout her life as a chess player, it has been tough on 21-year-old Meenakshi Subbaraman to remain in the shadow of her more talented and successful sister Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi. Having taken up chess under the guidance of her father, Meenakshi soon understood the bitter fact that she was no match for her elder sister. She has had chances to beat her sibling only rarely, one of which was at the National Women’s ‘A’ Championship in the year 2000. Though she defeated Vijayalakshmi in the final game, her elder sister went away with the trophy.