Greatest Indian Women Athlete

[Saniapower]

Greatest Indian Woman Athlete - P.T. USHA
Sania Mirza Could not win the prestigious Asian Games Tennis Gold( Doha 2006, lost to Zheng Jie in 3 sets)

[prasen9]

Fully agree. I am reasonably sure that the Russians doped to deprive her of an Olympic medal.

[arjun2761]

Huh? The Russians and most of the Eastern bloc boycotted the LA Olympics in 1984. IIRC, 6 of the top 8 in the 400 mH (from the previous world championship or equivalent) were not in field in LA.

Usha was a giant in Asia at a time when Asia was a midget in world track and field.

[Saniapower]

Anju Bobby George - Top 5 in Singles!

[arjun2761]

Anju Bobby George - Top 5 in Singles!

Sorry, No! Perhaps, a top 10 track and field athlete (across all track and field disciplines) may equal top 5 in tennis in terms of cross-sport achievement (if there is such a thing and if measured in money earned as one measure then tennis would win). Anju was top 5 in one discipline for a short time but perhaps no more than top 150 of women T&F athletes across all disciplines at that time. Anju was world class for sure and perhaps better than Usha at the world level. But her achievement per my assessment is perhaps more like top 100 in singles for a short time. Most people would pick Sania's career over Anju's.

In my mind, Saina Nehwal (and potentially Sindhu in time) may our greatest women athlete in that she has dominated (top 5) her sport for a long time and won an Olympic medal. Badminton is mostly an Asian sport (but widely played in all of Asia and particularly the more developed part of Asia - China, Japan, and Korea) but has at least some other developed nations (England, Germany, Denmark etc.) which also play the sport at some significant level of engagement.

[Atithee]

What about medal winning gymnast?

[Varma]

I would give more credit to Anju than what she got simply because most of her competition was infested with drug cheats. In a clean field, she would have won at least 3-4 medals at the top level.

- Varma

[rajitghosh]

Sania would be nowhere near the top 10 women sportspeople in India. In my opinion, Saina and Sindhu in badminton, Marykom in boxing, Kunjarani Devi and Malleshwari in badminton, Usha and Anju Bobby George in athletics, Humpy and Harika in chess and even Mithali Raj in cricket are way ahead of her. She has marketed herself well. She no doubt had a short, successful singles career but her doubles successes are more because of good partners like Hingis, Cara Black, Vesnina and Mattek- Sands. To give her credit she has chosen her partners well. But she has got rid of them even faster.
on one thing there is no doubt. She is definitely India's most marketable sportswoman ever.

[prasen9]

Huh? The Russians and most of the Eastern bloc boycotted the LA Olympics in 1984. IIRC, 6 of the top 8 in the 400 mH (from the previous world championship or equivalent) were not in field in LA.

Usha was a giant in Asia at a time when Asia was a midget in world track and field.

Sorry, brain fade. I was trying to write a one-liner before leaving for a meeting. In essence, I was anticipating this response --- that 6 of the top 8 were not in the field in LA. The Russians and the Eastern bloc were that good then in athletics due to systematic state-sponsored doping. There was also rampant doping in the U.S. at that time. I do not believe that Usha doped. Given these, Usha was a giant.

We are talking about individual performances here. Sania was in the top-30 or so at best. The fact that she is winning in doubles is due to the fact that the singles players cannot afford to play doubles consistently. I am pretty sure that the Venus sisters would win regularly against Sania, given the same partner. You can make the same case for several other doubles players.

I would rate Usha/George, Saina/Sindhu higher than Sania any day.

[sameerph]

I would rate Saina-Sindhu ahead of Sania. Usha-Anju on par with her. Others mentioned in the post above (Malleshwari, Kuju Rani) etc. much lower.

[Prashant]

I understand & largely agree with all the comments about how a #1 doubles ranking is not as important as other achievements. But, Sania was still ranked #27 in singles at one point in her career. We've had this argument at least twice before on these boards, but in my book a #27 in tennis singles is definitely equal to a top 10 in badminton, given the global reach of the sport.

It gets harder to compare to the track athletes because, as some of you have already pointed out, we have to correct for doping first and that is very difficult. For example - if we ignore doping completely, then both Sania and Saina/Sindhu have to be far above Usha & Anju.

[prasen9]

We also need to consider how long Sania held the top-27/top-30/top-50 ranking. By that token, Saina is a world #1. And, Sidhu a #5. But, Saina has been top-4/5 for a long time. And, Sidhu will hopefully be the same.

[arjun2761]

Sania would be nowhere near the top 10 women sportspeople in India. In my opinion, Saina and Sindhu in badminton, Marykom in boxing, Kunjarani Devi and Malleshwari in badminton, Usha and Anju Bobby George in athletics, Humpy and Harika in chess and even Mithali Raj in cricket are way ahead of her. She has marketed herself well. She no doubt had a short, successful singles career but her doubles successes are more because of good partners like Hingis, Cara Black, Vesnina and Mattek- Sands. To give her credit she has chosen her partners well. But she has got rid of them even faster.
on one thing there is no doubt. She is definitely India's most marketable sportswoman ever.

Sorry but this is a laughable list! Women's weightlifing and boxing are sports with with very little depth. Even in the developed countries, hardly any girls look at these as a sport that they would specialize in. Those that do end up there often by accident. Likewise, women's cricket has played in only a few countries with mostly the less developed/dysfunctional countries leading the way.

Chess is basically not an athletic sport (or not a sport at all) although agree that Humpy and Anand are more elite in chess than most/all of our athletes.

[Prashant]

We also need to consider how long Sania held the top-27/top-30/top-50 ranking. By that token, Saina is a world #1. And, Sidhu a #5. But, Saina has been top-4/5 for a long time. And, Sidhu will hopefully be the same.

Then, by the same token, don't you need to consider how long Usha & Anju were anywhere near the top of their sports? Usha's claim to fame is based largely on ONE race. I appreciate that she dominated Asia for a while, but that was when no one from Asia was a world beater.

[arjun2761]

What about medal winning gymnast?

That's an interesting sport. Gymnastics is a fairly significant sport for girls in developed sports countries (both in the west and in China/Japan etc.), so excelling in gymnastics would be right up there in my mind with excelling in tennis, track, swimming etc. in being global sports that are athletic with a fairly wide participation for girls in countries with developed sports cultures.

FWIW, I would put Dipa Karmakar among the top list of Indian women athletes although I think she didn't quite make it to an Olympic or World Championship medal.