https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Sunita_SharmaSunita Sharma - Revision history2026-10-28T20:26:08ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sunita_Sharma&diff=159214&oldid=previmported>Roller26: Added category2020-11-30T14:29:29Z<p>Added category</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{For|the Big Brother contestant|Sunita Sharma (Big Brother contestant)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}<br />
{{short description|Indian cricket coach}}<br />
[[Image:The President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presenting the Dronacharya Award for the year 2004 to Ms. Sunita Sharma for Cricket, at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi on August 29, 2005.jpg|thumb|Sharma receiving the Dronacharya Award from President [[A. P. J. Abdul Kalam]] in August 2005.]]<br />
'''Sunita Sharma''' is reportedly India's first woman [[cricket]] coach. Having trained dozens of first-class and international cricketers, she received the [[Dronacharya Award]] in 2005.<br />
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==Early life and playing career==<br />
A sports fan from childhood, Sharma played [[kho kho]] at the national level before gradually developing interest in cricket. Having lost her father at age four, it was her mother who advised her to take up the relatively more popular sport of cricket so that she could make a career out of it. Sharma soon rose up the ranks as a [[fast bowling|medium pace bowler]] and was selected in the [[Indian women's national cricket team|national team]].<ref name="southasian">{{cite news |last1=Mukherjee |first1=Sanjeeb |title=Sunita Sharma – India's First Woman Cricketing Guru |url=http://www.the-south-asian.com/February2002/Sunita%20Sharma%20-%20first%20woman%20cricket%20coach.htm |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=The South Asian |date=February 2002}}</ref> She claims that despite being part of the playing eleven of a [[Women's Test cricket|Test match]] against [[Australia women's national cricket team|Australia]] in 1975 she was left out on the morning of the match.<ref name="toi">{{cite news |title=Meet India's first woman cricket coach |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cricket/Meet-Indias-first-woman-cricket-coach/articleshow/9343844.cms |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=The Times of India |date=9 May 2002}}</ref><br />
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==Coaching career==<br />
Noticing her lack of interest in academics, Sharma's mother enrolled her into a cricket coaching programme in [[Janki Devi Memorial College]] in Delhi.<ref name="news18"/> In 1976, she became the first woman to receive a coaching diploma from the [[National Institute of Sports]] in Patiala.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bastion-buster |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050903/spr-trib.htm#4 |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=The Tribune |date=3 September 2005}}</ref> According to Sharma, people were reluctant to send their children to her as they preferred male coaches but "people found out that I am equally capable as compared to my male colleagues" after one year. She credited the media who used to "write about me and appreciate my work. All that gave me enough strength to carry on initially."<ref name="news18">{{cite news |title=Sunita Sharma: Making it big in a man's world |url=https://www.news18.com/cricketnext/news/sunita-sharma-making-it-big-in-a-mans-world-549597.html |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=News18 |date=4 July 2008}}</ref><br />
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Over the years, Sharma coached dozens of men and women cricketers who went on to play at international and first-class level. She is reportedly India's first woman cricket coach.<ref name="toi"/><ref name="news18"/> Some of her women trainees who played at the international level are [[Manimala Singhal]], [[Shashi Gupta]], [[Anju Jain]], and [[Anjum Chopra]]. Between 1975 and 1990, Sharma also conducted coaching camps for international cricketers where the likes of [[Shantha Rangaswamy]], [[Diana Edulji]], [[Gargi Banerji]], [[Sandhya Agarwal]] and [[Shubhangi Kulkarni]] underwent training. She was the coach of [[Deep Dasgupta]], who played for the [[India national cricket team|men's national team]], since he was seven years of age.<ref name="news18"/> Since the early-1980s, she trained Indian team probables at [[Sports Authority of India]]'s National Stadium Cricket Academy in Delhi.<ref name="southasian"/> She later worked as a coach and manager of the women's national team.<ref>{{cite news |title=No batting on a sticky wicket |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/life-style/gyan-zone/no-batting-on-a-sticky-wicket/218106.html |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=The Tribune |date=6 April 2016}}</ref> She briefly worked on the national women's team selection committee until 2015 when the [[Board of Control for Cricket in India]] (BCCI) removed her because she had not played international cricket.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lokapally |first1=Vijay |title=Board takes the easy way out |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/sunita-sharma-and-sports-authority-of-india-and-bcci/article7983911.ece |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=The Hindu |date=14 December 2015}}</ref><br />
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In July 2002, the Women's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) recommended her for the [[Dronacharya Award]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Unnikrishnan |first1=M. S. |title=WCAI recommends Sunita's name for Dronacharya Award |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020730/ncr3.htm#3 |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=The Tribune |date=29 July 2002}}</ref> She received the award in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rathore bags Khel Ratna award |url=https://www.rediff.com/sports/2005/aug/24rathore.htm |accessdate=5 October 2019 |work=Rediff |date=24 August 2005}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Sunita}}<br />
[[Category:Living people]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women cricketers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian cricket coaches]]<br />
[[Category:Sportswomen from Delhi]]<br />
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]<br />
[[Category:Female cricket coaches]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Dronacharya Award]]</div>imported>Roller26