Dipika Pallikal Karthik was away from squash for three long years. Since 2006, Dipika’s world had been just squash, and her life moved gears to accommodate the sport and her ambitions in it. However, something snapped in 2018, something about the race didn’t feel exciting anymore. Dipika was not done for good, but she wanted the tape to pause.
READ: Dipika wins two gold medals at WSF World Doubles Championships
In April this year, she picked up the squash racket again, but much had changed — the game was more competitive, training techniques and routines had evolved, and Dipika herself had two new priorities alongside her squash career — an interior design boutique which she founded with her best friend, and her twin sons Kabir and Zian.
Rich dividends: The Indian squash team that returned with two gold medals from the World Doubles Championships in Glasgow. – SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT / PAUL ROBERTS
When she landed in Glasgow for the World Doubles Championship, a little nervousness was understandable, playing against the best who had only gotten better during her time away. However, her greatest demon was the person looking back at her in the mirror.
“When you get back to a sport, especially after motherhood, a lot of people tend to just try and be like, ‘I was hitting the ball like this, why am I not hitting it like that anymore? Or, I was lifting 150 kg deadlifts, why am I not doing that anymore?’ On a normal basis, you always compare yourself to others. But when you’ve been at your best a few years back and when you’ve taken that break, it’s very easy to just float that way and go why am I not doing what I used to do?” says Dipika.
The world was asking those same questions of her — if she could still keep up. Her answer? Twin gold medals — one in the mixed doubles with Saurav Ghosal and the other in the women’s doubles with Joshna Chinappa — both longtime partners and, in Saurav’s case, family (Saurav is married to Dipika’s sister).
Finding joy
Dipika has always meandered through life on her own terms. She uprooted her life and moved to Egypt when she needed better facilities to train; she stepped away from the National Championships when she was on top of the game for three years because the prize money was steeply lower for the women. Likewise, she stepped away from her career when she was at her peak physically.
“There were a few reasons for the break. Top of the list was wanting to start a family with Dinesh (Karthik) because, at the end of the day, I am married to a cricketer,” Dipika says as she negotiates life in the Royal Challengers Bangalore bio-bubble. Karthik plays for RCB in the Indian Premier League.</…….