Anitha Pauldurai

Anitha Pauldurai
Personal information
Born	22 June 1985 (age 39); Madras (now Chennai),; Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality	Indian
Listed height	167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Career information
Playing career	International: 2001–2018
Position	Southern Railways (Officer On Special Duty)
Career highlights and awards
	Padma Shri (2021)

Anitha Pauldurai (born 22 June 1985) is an Indian basketball player who has been the captain of the India women's national basketball team. She has been conferred with National Civilian Award Padma Shri in 2021. She has been also conferred with Chief Minister State award in the field of sports by Government of Tamilnadu in 2013.

She played for 18 years on the Indian women's national team (2000 to 2017). Anitha is the first only Indian woman to have played nine Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) championships continuously representing the national squad. Anitha has a record of 30 medals in national championships.

Pauldurai is the youngest ever to captain the Senior National Team at the age of 19 and went on to captain the national team for eight years. In August 2012, she was selected to play for an international women professional league in Thailand.

Pauldurai has played a number of international tournaments including big-ticket events such as the Asian championship, Commonwealth Games 2006 and Asian Games 2010. Anitha won the gold medal in 1st 3 on 3 FIBA Asian Basketball Championships at Doha 2013, gold medal in 3rd Asian beach games at Haiyan, China 2012, captain and top assists in the tournament, gold medal in south Asian beach games at Sri Lanka 2011 and silver medal in Asian indoor games at Vietnam 2009.^[1]^[2] ^[3]

Personal life and education

Pauldurai was born in a middle class Tamil family to late police constable G. Pauldurai and housewife Lalitha in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu. She started playing basketball at the age of 11 but admits that early on, she wasn't a fan of the sport. "I used to like volleyball and athletics more," she said, "But when I was in school, the basketball coach recommended that I try the game. The more I played, the more interested I became in the sport." She was graduate in B.Com. from Madras University & MBA (HRM) from Annamalai University. She joined Southern Railway 2003, now working as Officer on Special Duty, Ticket Checking.

Awards and achievements

Padma Shri Award for Sports in 2021 - Fourth Highest Civilian Award in India.
FEMINA Super Daughter Award 2021.
Tamil Nadu Women achiever Award from the Brand Republic 2021.
Life Time Achievement Award from Rotary Club Chennai Velachery 2021.
Sports Women of the Year Award from Jeppiaar Institute of Technology 2021.
Raindrops Women Achiever Award 2021.
Best Sports Women Award from TN World Women Wing 2021.
Wonder Women Award from Virisha Book of World Record 2021.
Women Achiever Award from State Bank Of India 2019.
Villayatu Ratna Award from News7 channel Tamil Ratna Awards 2018.
Received Doctor of Letters (D.LITT) from DK International Research Foundation 2018.
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in senior National Basketball Championship at Chennai 2018.
Women Achiever Award from Rajalakshmi Engineering College 2018.
Young Achiever Award from International Youth Fest 2018.
Women Achiever Award from Vels University 2017.
Received Vikadan award for Golden Captain 2016.
Chief Minister State Sports Award 2013.
Awarded Top Plays of the Tournament 2013 FIBA Asian Women.
Southern Railway General Manager's Railway Week Award for sports 2008.
Best Player Award in 17th Youth Nationals at Vashi 2001.
Received Book of World Records Certificate for the Contribution towards the Basketball sport in India.

International sporting achievements

Year	Competition	Venue & dates	Position	Notes

Representing India
	FIBA U-16 Women's Asia Championship	Bengaluru 22 to 28 Oct	Winner	Asst coach
			Level II
2017	FIBA Women's Asia Cup	Bengaluru 23 to 29 July	Winner	Captain
			Level II
	39th William Jones Cup	Chinese Taipei 5 to 9 July	Top 4	Captain
2015	26th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Wuhanchina 29 Aug to 5 Sep	Top 6	Captain
	1st FIBA Asia 3 On 3 Championship	Dhoha, Qatar 15 to 16 May	Gold medal
2013	25th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Bangkok, Thailand 27 Oct to 3 Nov	Top 5
	3rd Asian Beach Games	Haiyang, China 16 to 22 June	Gold medal	Captain Top Assist
	Women's Professional Basketball League	Thailand July		Sripatum
2012				University
	34th William Jones Cup Tournament	Taiwan 7 to 11 June	Top 4
	1st South Asian Beach Games	Hambantota	Gold medal
		Sri Lanka 8 to 14 Aug
2011	24th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Nagasaki	Top 5	Top Steal
		Japan 21 to 28 Aug
	33rd William Jones Cup for Women	Chinese Taipai 31 July to 4 Aug	Top 4
2010	16th Asian Games	China
		Guangzhou 12 to 27 Nov
	3rd Asian Indoor Games	Vietnam 30 Oct to 8 Nov	Silver medal
2009	24th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Chennai		Captain
		17 to 24 Sep
2007	22nd FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Incheon, Korea 3 to 10 June	Winner
			Levelii
	Common Wealth Games	Melbourne, Australia 15 to 26 Mar		Top Assist of Tournament

2006	Four Nations International Basketball Tournament	Auckland, New Zealand 8 to 12 Mar
	1st Phuket International Invitational Tournament	Thailand 22 to 25 Sep	Gold medal
2005	21st FIBA Asia championship for Senior Women	Ginhuangdao, China 19 to 26 June		Captain
				(Youngest ever captain)
	International Invitational Basketball Tournament	Malaysia	Silver medal
2004		20 to 30 June
	20th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Japan
		13 to 19 Jan
2001	19th FIBA Asia Championship for Senior Women	Bangkok
		Thailand 4 to 11 Oct
2000	Junior FIBA Asia Basketball Championship for Women	Delhi
		16 to 22 Dec

National sporting achievements

Year	Competition	Venue & dates	Position	Notes

				Life Time Achievement Award received from Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
2018	68th Senior National Basketball Championship	Chennai	Gold medal
		17 to 24 Jan
	67th Senior National Basketball Championship	Pondicherry	Bronze
		7 to 14 Jan
2017	Federation Cup	Coimbatore	Silver
	41st All India Railway Championship	Kolkata 10 to 15 Nov	Gold
	66th Senior National Basketball Championship	Mysore 9 to 16 Jan	Gold
2016	40th All India Railway Championship	Secundrabad 25 to 30 Nov	Silver
	35th National Games	Kerala 1 to 14 Feb	Silver
2015	29th Federation Cup	Pune 29 Mar to 2 Apr	Gold
	39th All India Railway Championship	Mumbai 20 to 26 Nov	Gold
	1st 3 On 3 Senior National Basketball Championship	New Delhi 10 & 11 April	Gold

		Bengaluru 30 Jan to 3 Feb		Captain Most Valuable Player
2013	27th Federation Cup		Gold
	37th All India Railway Championship	Kapurthala 6 to 10 Nov	Gold
	67th Senior National Basketball Championship	Ludhiana 20 Dec to 4 Jan	Gold
	26th Federation Cup	Cochin 14 to 18 Mar	Gold
2012	36th All India Railway Championship	Guwahati 1 to 8 Nov	Gold
	62nd Senior National Basketball Championship	Chennai 16 to 24 Dec	Gold
	34th National Games	Jharkhand 12 to 26 Feb	Gold	Captain
	25th Federation Cup	Raipur 10 To 15 Feb	Silver
2011	35th All India Railway Championship	Kapurthala 4 to 11 Nov	Silver
	61st Senior National Basketball Championship	New Delhi 20 Dec to 4 Jan	Gold
	34th All India Railway Championship	Secundrabad 26 Nov to 3 Dec	Gold
2010	51st South Zone Basketball Championship	Visakhapatnam 23 to 27 June	Gold	Captain
	60th Senior National Basketball Championship	Ludhiana 27 Dec to 3 Jan	Gold	Captain Top Scorer Award
2009	33rd All India Railway Championship	Jabalpur 6 to 12 Oct	Gold
	59th Senior National Basketball Championship	Surat 31 Dec to 7 Jan	Gold
	32nd All India Railway Championship	Guwahati 3 to 9 Sep	Bronze
2008	50th South Zone Basketball Championship	Hospet 18 to 22 Oct	Gold	Captain
	58th Senior National Basketball Championship	Pondicherry 21 to 28 Dec	Gold
	23rd Federation Cup	Rourekela 31 Oct to 4 Nov	Silver	Captain
2007
	31st All India Railway Championship	Chennai 20 to 26 Nov	Gold	Captain
	56thsenior National Basketball Championship	Pune 20 Dec to 4 Jan 2006	Gold
	21st Federation Cup	Bhavnagar 15 to 19 Feb	Silver
	29th All India Railway Championship	Gorakpur 19 to 22 Oct	Silver
2005	R. Vaikuntam Cup	New Delhi 12 to 14 July	Bronze
	55th Senior National Basketball Championship	Ludhiana 26 Dec to 2 Jan	Gold
2004
	28th All India Railway Championship	Lucknow 1 to 8 Nov	Gold
	54th Senior National Basketball Championship	Cuttack 26 Dec 2003 to 2 Jan 2004	Gold
	45th South Zone Basketball Championship	Yanam 18 to 22 July	Gold
	27th All India Railway Championship	Varanasi 5 to 12 Nov	Bronze
2003	54th Junior Nationals	Ludhiyana 7 to 14 June	-
	53rd Senior National Basketball Championship	Hyderabad 25 Jan to 1 Feb
2002	53rd Junior Nationals	Goa 10 to 17 May
	51st Senior National Basketball Championship	Bengaluru 5 to 12 Jan	Bronze
	31st National Games	Punjab 19 Nov to 1 Dec	Silver
	52nd Junior Nationals	Bhilai 17 to 24 June	-
2001	18th Youth Nationals	Madhya Pradhesh 14 to 20 Oct	Gold	Captain
	50th Senior National Basketball Championship	Delhi 25 Dec to 1 Jan 2000	Bronze
2000	17th Federation Cup	Vishakapatnam 25 to 30 July	Forth
	51st Junior Nationals	Himachal Pradesh 9 to 15 Sep	Bronze
	17th Youth Nationals	Vashi 25 Dec to 1 Jan 2001	Gold	Captain Most Valuable Player
	50th Junior Nationals	Pondicherry 21 to 27 May	Gold
	16th Youth Nationals	Chittoragarh 8 to 13 Dec	Silver
1999	15th Youth Nationals	Surat 23 to 29 Jan
	25th Sub-Junior National	Pondicherry 14 to 18 May	-
1998	XLIV National School Games	Chandigarh 14 to 19 Nov

References

Specific

^ "Geethu Anna Jose and Anitha Paul Durai played in Thailand professional basketball league". 18 August 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
^ Chidananda, Shreedutta; Chidananda, Shreedutta (2 February 2013). "I love playing for Tamil Nadu: Anitha". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
^ Staff Reporter (26 January 2021). "Ten from T.N. chosen for Padma Shri". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 26 January 2021.

External links

[1] "Geethu Anna Jose and Anitha Paul Durai played in Thailand professional basketball league". 18 August 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2018.

[2] Chidananda, Shreedutta; Chidananda, Shreedutta (2 February 2013). "I love playing for Tamil Nadu: Anitha". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 21 April 2018.

[3] Staff Reporter (26 January 2021). "Ten from T.N. chosen for Padma Shri". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 26 January 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Recipients of Padma Shri in Sports
1950s	Balbir Singh Sr. (1957) K. D. Singh (1958) Mihir Sen (1959) Milkha Singh (1959)
1960s	Vijay Hazare (1960) Jasu Patel (1960) Arati Saha (1960) Nari Contractor (1962) Sonam Gyatso (1962) Ramanathan Krishnan (1962) Gostha Pal (1962) Polly Umrigar (1962) Syed Mushtaq Ali (1963) M. J. Gopalan (1964) Nawang Gombu (1964) Charanjit Singh (1964) H. P. S. Ahluwalia (1965) Avtar Singh Cheema (1965) D. B. Deodhar (1965) Phu Dorjee (1965) Wilson Jones (1965) Verghese Kurien (1965) Harish Chandra Singh Rawat (1965) Chandra Prakash Vohra (1965) Sonam Wangyal (1965) Kishan Lal (1966) Narendra Kumar (1965) Shankar Lakshman (1967) Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (1967) Gurdial Singh (1967) Prithipal Singh (1967) Chandu Borde (1969)
1970s	Bishan Singh Bedi (1970) Moin-ul-Haq (1970) E. A. S. Prasanna (1970) Leslie Claudius (1971) Sailen Manna (1971) Ghaus Mohammad (1971) Chandgi Ram (1971) Kamaljeet Sandhu (1971) Gundappa Viswanath (1971) Harsh Vardhan Bahuguna (1972) B. S. Chandrasekhar (1972) Ajit Wadekar (1972) Farokh Engineer (1973) Pankaj Roy (1975) Roshan Lal Anand (1976) Meena Shah (1977)
1980s	Vasudevan Baskaran (1981) Syed Kirmani (1982) Kapil Dev (1982) Prakash Padukone (1982) Vijay Amritraj (1983) Bahadur Singh Chauhan (1983) Guru Hanuman (1983) Eliza Nelson (1983) Chand Ram (1983) Kaur Singh (1983) Raghubir Singh (1983) Satpal Singh (1983) M. D. Valsamma (1983) Geeta Zutshi (1983) Charles Borromeo (1984) Phu Dorjee (1984) Chuni Goswami (1984) D. K. Khullar (1984) Bachendri Pal (1984) Omprakesh Agrawal (1985) P. T. Usha (1985) Anupama Gokhale (1986) Swaroop Kishen (1986) Geet Sethi (1986) Mohammad Shahid (1986) Bhagyashree Thipsay (1987) Dilip Vengsarkar (1987) Viswanathan Anand (1988) Mohammad Azharuddin (1988)
1990s	Chandraprabha Aitwal (1990) P. K. Banerjee (1990) Premchand Degra (1990) Gulshan Rai (1990) Jaman Lal Sharma (1990) Taranath Narayan Shenoy (1990) Selma D'Silva (1991) Aspy Adajania (1992) Ajit Pal Singh (1992) Sriram Singh (1992) Hakam Singh (1992) Shiny Abraham (1998) Ramesh Krishnan (1998) Lila Ram (1998) Pargat Singh (1998) Karnam Malleswari (1999) Sachin Tendulkar (1999)
2000s	Santosh Yadav (2000) Mahesh Bhupathi (2001) Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla (2001) Bhuvneshwari Kumari (2001) Leander Paes (2001) Dhanraj Pillay (2001) Sunita Rani (2001) Diana Edulji (2002) Jaspal Rana (2002) Mukesh Kumar (2003) Gopal Purushottam Phadke (2003) Kanhaya Lal Pokhriyal (2003) Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (2003) Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (2003) K. M. Beenamol (2004) Gurmayum Anita Devi (2004) Rahul Dravid (2004) Sourav Ganguly (2004) Anju Bobby George (2004) S. P. Nimbalkar (2004) Dilip Tirkey (2004) Pullela Gopichand (2005) Anil Kumble (2005) Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (2005) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2005) Rachel Thomas (2005) Madhumita Bisht (2006) Mohan Singh Gunjyal (2006) Mary Kom (2006) Sania Mirza (2006) Bahadur Singh Sagoo (2006) Koneru Humpy (2007) Jeev Milkha Singh (2007) Bhaichung Bhutia (2008) Bula Choudhury (2008) Pankaj Advani (2009) MS Dhoni (2009) Balbir Singh Kullar (2009) Harbhajan Singh (2009)
2010s	Ramakant Achrekar (2010) Narain Karthikeyan (2010) Saina Nehwal (2010) Virender Sehwag (2010) Vijender Singh (2010) Ignace Tirkey (2010) Kunjarani Devi (2011) Sushil Kumar (2011) VVS Laxman (2011) Shital Mahajan (2011) Gagan Narang (2011) Krishna Poonia (2011) Harbhajan Singh (mountaineer) (2011) S. M. Arif (2012) Ravi Chaturvedi (2012) Jhulan Goswami (2012) Zafar Iqbal (field hockey) (2012) Devendra Jhajharia (2012) Limba Ram (2012) Prabhakar Vaidya (2012) Premlata Agrawal (2013) Yogeshwar Dutt (2013) Vijay Kumar (2013) Girisha Nagarajegowda (2013) Dingko Singh (2013) Bajrang Lal Takhar (2013) Anjum Chopra (2014) Sunil Dabas (2014) Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu (2014) Dipika Pallikal (2014) H. Boniface Prabhu (2014) Yuvraj Singh (2014) Mamta Sodha (2014) Saba Anjum Karim (2015) Mithali Raj (2015) P. V. Sindhu (2015) Sardara Singh (2015) Arunima Sinha (2015) Sushil Doshi (2016) Deepika Kumari (2016) Vikas Gowda (2017) Dipa Karmakar (2017) Virat Kohli (2017) Deepa Malik (2017) Sakshi Malik (2017) Shekhar Naik (2017) P. R. Sreejesh (2017) Mariyappan Thangavelu (2017) Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (2018) Somdev Devvarman (2018) Murlikant Petkar (2018) Srikanth Kidambi (2018) Sunil Chhetri (2019) Harika Dronavalli (2019) Gautam Gambhir (2019) Sharath Kamal (2019) Bombayla Devi Laishram (2019) Bajrang Punia (2019) Prashanti Singh (2019) Ajay Thakur (2019)
2020s	Oinam Bembem Devi (2020) M. P. Ganesh (2020) Zaheer Khan (2020) Jitu Rai (2020) Tarundeep Rai (2020) Rani Rampal (2020) Anitha Pauldurai (2021) Anshu Jamsenpa (2021) Mouma Das (2021) Sudha Singh (2021) Virender Singh (2021) K. Y. Venkatesh (2021) Sumit Antil (2022) Pramod Bhagat (2022) Neeraj Chopra (2022) Sankaranarayana Menon (2022) Faisal Ali Dar (2022) Vandana Katariya (2022) Avani Lekhara (2022) Brahmanand Sankhwalkar (2022) S. R. D. Prasad (2023) K. Shanathoiba Sharma (2023) Gurcharan Singh (2023) Joshna Chinappa (2024) Rohan Bopanna (2024) Purnima Mahato (2024) Harbinder Singh (2024) Satendra Singh Lohiya (2024) Gaurav Khanna (2024) Uday Vishwanath Deshpande (2024)