Joshna Chinappa, first Indian girl to win U-19 British Junior Open squash championship, gets Padma Shri

Chennai, April 22 : Professional squash player from Tamil Nadu, Joshna Chinappa on Monday received the prestigious Padma Shri award, the fourth highest civilian award in the country.

Born in Chennai on September 15, 1986, she started playing squash at the age of eight. Her father Anjan Chinappa is a coffee planter at Coorg and had represented Tamil Nadu in the state-level squash championship.

The 37-year-old squash player has a career-high ranking of World No. 10. She was the first Indian girl to win the British Junior Open squash championship in 2005 in the Under-19 category.

Joshna Chinappa has won the national squash championship for a record 18 times, which is the highest number of squash national championships won by a player.

In the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Joshna Chinappa partnered with Deepika Pallikal to win the gold medal in Squash doubles.