Anaka Alankamony (born 10 July 1994) is an Indian squash player. She held a career-high world ranking of 59 in 2010 and won the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

, the second-highest sporting honour of India, in 2014.

Education

She was a student of Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering and a former student o
Sacred Heart Matriculation Higher Secondary School Chennai
Anaka enrolled at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in Philadelphia in the fall of 2013. At University of Pennsylvania, she played on the women's squash team and studied Computer Science and Economics in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her studies in the United States were touted as a reason for her low participation in tournaments and slipping rank in the World Squash Rankings.

Career

Anaka's first big win was at the Asian U-15 circuit at just 13 years of age. She then set the world record at the age of 15 as the youngest person in the world to earn th
WISPA
title in 2009. Malaysia's

Nicol David Malay titles#Datuk, Datuk Nicol Ann David (born August 26, 1983) is a Malaysian retired professional squash (sport), squash player. She was the world number one for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months, ceding the ranking in September 2015 ...

had earlier won the title at the age of 16. Anaka was the second Indian, after

Joshna Chinappa Joshna Chinappa (born 15 September 1986) is an Indian professional Squash (sport), squash player. She reached a career-high world ranking of #10 in 2016. She was the first Indian to win the British Junior Open Squash, British Junior Open in 20 ...

to win the WISPA title. She won the same title for the second time in 2012. She was awarded the Young Achiever Award by Rotary Club of Madras Northwest.Rising squash star Anaka Alankamony , SportsKeeda
/ref> In 2008, she was crowned the Asian Junior Squash Individual Champion in 2008 in Korea. Anaka won a bronze medal (team) at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

, Guangzhou and a Silver medal (team) at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

, Incheon. Anaka won The

2014 for her achievements in squash, as the government also felt that it was important to promote women squash players. However, this Award was mired in controversy after senior squash players from the country felt that she had not yet done enough in the professional circuit to deserve the award, especially because her rank had slipped from her career high 59 in 2009 to 151 in 2014. Anaka has receded from the professional circuit.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alankamony, Anaka 1994 births Living people Indian female squash players Penn Quakers women's squash players Asian Games medalists in squash Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Squash players at the 2010 Asian Games Squash players at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Racket sportspeople from Chennai Sportswomen from Tamil Nadu Recipients of the Arjuna Award 21st-century American sportswomen