Roopa Unnikrishnan is an Indian-born American
sports shooter and
innovation consultant, based in
New York City. In 1998, she was the first Indian woman to ever win a gold medal at the
Commonwealth Games, in the
50m rifle prone position event.
Biography
Unnikrishnan won the
Arjuna Award
The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards 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 Arjuna, one ...
, India's highest sporting prize (equivalent to sports hall of fame) presented by India's President in 1999. The award recognized her multiple global medals, including gold medal and record in the XVI Commonwealth Games,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1998, in women's prone sports rifle; Silver medal at the World Shooting Grand Prix, Ft. Benning, Georgia, 1998; hold several records at the South Asian level.
She has been a strong advocate for increased support for
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
s in India, where they continue to be resource constrained.
Though Shooting is a "Half Blue" sport at Oxford, Unnikrishnan was awarded an Extraordinary Full Blue, since she had won the Commonwealth medal, helped the Oxford team win in university leagues, and was the Captain of the Oxford Women's Shooting Team.
In 1995, she won a
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
from India.
She got her B.A. at Women's Christian College, Chennai; an M.A. at Ethiraj College, Chennai; an M.A. in Economic History at Balliol in Oxford; and an M.B.A from the Said School of Business in Oxford.
She is Head of Strategy at
Harman International in New York City. She has contributed to
The Economic Times and to Knowledge@Wharton.
In 2017, she published the book, ''The Career Catapult: Shake-up the Status Quo and Boost Your Professional Trajectory''.
Personal life
Unnikrishnan became a US Citizen in 2013. She is married to
Sreenath Sreenivasan
Sreenath "Sree" Sreenivasan (born October 28, 1970) is an academic and practitioner in journalism and communications, serving as the inaugural Marshall R. Loeb visiting professor at Stony Brook University School of Journalism in New York. He w ...
, former Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
See also
*
Indians in the New York City metropolitan area
References
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Commonwealth Games medallists in shooting
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India
Women's Christian College, Chennai alumni
Shooters at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
Shooters at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Recipients of the Arjuna Award
Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games
Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
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