Six months after she gave birth to twins, Dipika Pallikal strode into history. On Saturday, the Indian squash player starred in two title wins - mixed and women - at the World Doubles Championships in Glasgow. It's the first time ever that India have won gold at the tournament.
Motherhood and success can often be seen as an unrealistic combination. Female athletes have been working overtime to fix that antiquated view. Dipika was ranked inside the top 20 in the world when she decided to take a step back from the sport in 2018. In her time away from the court, she set up an interior designing business and turned mother to twin boys in October last year.
Married to cricketer Dinesh Karthik, the 31-year-old juggled her hectic post-motherhood sleep and feed schedule with a gradual return to training and competitions. She had taken a four-year hiatus, but went full tilt right-away in her first competition back.
This weekend, partnering Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa in the mixed and women's events respectively, she came off with wins in both. For Dipika, Glasgow must feel like a special venue. It was, after all, the city where she, together with Joshna, won India's first-ever Commonwealth Games gold in the sport back in 2014.
In both finals, India were up against England - Adrian Waller and Alison Waters (who they beat 2-0) and second seeds Sarah-Jane Perry and Waters (who they beat 2-1) in the mixed and women's events respectively. Dipika and Joshna had received a walkover into the final after their semifinal opponents and top seeds New Zealand's Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy were forced to withdraw following an injury to King.
"Dipika began training in November and her primary focus has been the Commonwealth and Asian Games," says Saurav, who's also her brother-in-law, "For any regular athlete, returning to competitions after four years can be a shock to the system. Doing so post-motherhood can only be doubly tough. It was a bit of a slow start early in the week but she got into the tournament groove pretty quickly. The World Doubles was supposed to be a sort of preparatory tournament. Now that it's come with a historic title, it's a bonus."
For Dipika, who only turned mother months ago, it must mean a lot more. Motherhood can change and challenge women's bodies in unimaginable ways and recovery can often be complex and prolonged. Yet female athletes-turned mothers have turned every conceivable narrative on the head - Paula Radcliffe won the 2007 New York City Marathon less than 10 months after having her daughter, Jessica Ennis Hill won the 2015 World Championships gold nine months after giving birth and went on to win silver at the following year's Olympics. Closer home, Mary Kom and Sania Mirza have been among the biggest names championing the cause. Sania has, in fact, been traveling on the tour with her toddler son.
Speaking to World Squash Federation, Dipika said, "For us women, our bodies go through a lot, day in and day out, and I think it's important to believe in ourselves. What's really worked for me is I've had a lot of support from family and friends and that's why I'm here today, because a lot of people believed in me."