Dipika’s gifts for her twins – World Doubles gold medals

Post the ba glow and birth of her twin sons Kabir and Zian, squash star Dipika Pallikal Karthik ached for the glow that comes from stomping on a competitive court. “It was important that I made the aura felt before the Commonwealth Games. Everyone has to fear you as a rival. It can’t just be that she’s back, but that she’s playing her best squash,” Dipika says, after returning from winning two gold medals at squash’s World Doubles Championship. The 30-year-old picked the doubles crown with long-time friend and peer Joshna Chinappa, and the mixed doubles title with childhood friend, training partner and now brother-in-law, Saurav Ghosal.
There was a three-year gap in her squash career, some of which she prefers stays private as it’s deeply personal, and some that she happily narrates as part of her comeback. But for someone who would saunter in at Chennai’s SDAT squash courts as an 11-year-old, go straight to the glass door, shrug off her jacket, tighten her ponytail, lace up and get smacking the rubbery bouncer off the walls, Dipika inss the tournament week and what played out on the courts in Glasgow was the culmination of a well-plotted return.
“I’ve always been mentally tough, very driven with my goals and put blinders on. So of course, I go to every tournament to win,” she says, though adding her expectations were tempered, having given birth just six months back. “Like I kept telling Saurav and Dinesh (the cricketer Dinesh Karthik is her husband), just being back on court was top of the world happiness for me.”

Introducing your new World Champions! 🏆
Congratulations to 🇮🇳 @indiasquash‘s @SauravGhosal and @DipikaPallikal, who have won the mixed doubles world championship title after beating 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Waller and Waters 2-0 (11-6, 11-8)!#squash #india #WSFDoubles #Glasgow2022 pic.twitter.com/k3x49mOeYm
— World Squash (@WorldSquash) April 9, 2022
Dipika was aware that not everyone finds the support system to pull this off. “I know I’m very privileged and was lucky to have lots of people look after the boys,” she says. Her in-laws would come down, as would one of her life’s rocks from Singapore. “My best friend came from Singapore for 10 days to be with the boys. And my parents, sers, Dinesh’s family, all contributed towards this goal. I even felt like it was my responsibility towards them and I had to win in return of the confidence and effort they had put in,” she says.
Dipika had never intended her break from the sport to last this long. “I tried a lot of things. Some of it went my way, some didn’t,” she recalls. A few personal crises pegged her back along the way. “After the last three years, I’m just happy I’m healthy and can be on court. I hadn’t played a match in three years, wasn’t match-fit for three years. It was a personal journey, but it made me stronger. It’s not been easy because a lot of things happened after I took a break. So just being on court with Joshna and Saurav, and doing what I love felt great.”

Super thrilled to win the gold at the World Doubles Championships 2022 with @DipikaPallikal✨🥇Always an honour playing for India with this amazing team🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/UJYdbAmwmI
— Joshna Chinappa (@joshnachinappa) April 11, 2022
“The moment I stepped onto the court, I felt I was back where I belong.”
Quashing self-doubt
One’d think the world would leave a former Top 10 WISPA player to be the best judge of what she should do with her squash. Not so lucky, even her. “I’ll be honest. For a year and-a-half, I didn’t want to return. But after the boys were born, I wanted to pull up my sleeves and come back. There are lots of people pulling you down, telling you ‘you should be home with the kids.’ Then there’s the self-doubt. But proving people wrong has always been a big thing for me,” she says.
Dinesh Karthik had been in the stands at the last Commonwealth Games, and was the first to support her to return. “He understands and that’s the best. Being married to Dinesh also means we are both juggling playing careers and parenthood. He’s also on the road most of the time, and World Doubles clashed with IPL. This was the first time we were both going to be away from the babies, so I’m grateful for the support system,” she says.

And just like that 3 became 5🤍@DineshKarthik and I are very humbled to have been blessed with two beautiful ba boys, Kabir Pallikal Karthik & Zian Pallikal Karthik, and we could not be happier🤍 pic.twitter.com/siyyt3MlUU
— Dipika Pallikal (@DipikaPallikal) October 28, 2021
Dipika calls motherhood “just new”. “For both me and Dinesh, but we were excited about this phase of our life. Usually you are just packing bags, setting off for training, competing. Now we both realise there’s a responsibility to come back home to. After all, they are babies, and they need feeding. And there are times I think I should’ve been there to do this or do that. So, leaving them and going is tough.”
Dipika reckons this is a very small window. “We both know there’s a limited amount of time left in which we’ll play at the highest level. I hope when the boys grow up, they understand and appreciate the sacrifices we made in leaving them and going to represent India,” she wonders.
The planned preps
There were bodily challenges. “I was maybe 15 kgs heavier today. But I’m working with my team that I’ve known for years to lose weight systematically, who were pushing me from Day 1.” Dipika and Karthik incidentally met the first time owing to the Chennai trainer they both swear .
“Of course, I can get a lot fitter but I’m just happy I didn’t miss a single training session though there were times I wanted to sleep in a little longer because of the boys. I knew I had to work harder than others to stay on court,” she says.
It’s where her partners gave a leg-up as well. Dipika has known Joshna since their teen years, and through much thick and some thin. Joshna is Top-20 and continues playing on the circuit, which meant the duo started trading game notes on opponents only at the start of this year. “She’s busy on the pro circuit, so I understand her priorities. But we had a few good sessions and I knew my basic squash was in place. We’ve spoken at the tournament about what areas to improve in. But things clicked,” she says pretty pleased.
Saurav is family – being married to her ser. “He’s my brother-in-law so he’s seen it all in the last three years and been with me through it on a daily basis. It was good that some of the tactics we discussed fell in place.”

Let’s do this!🏃‍♀️My first running session after 2 months of rehab. Feels so good to be back up and running ⚡ pic.twitter.com/rwi5sp2Ykt
— Dipika Pallikal (@DipikaPallikal) May 1, 2021
The turnaround for Dipika personally happened in the mixed doubles quarters against England’s Patrick Rooney and Georgina Kennedy, as the Indians won 11-6, 11-7. “That match changed a lot of things. I started slowly, but things picked up and I found my confidence. I knew our tactics were working,” she says, stressing that the CWG will be a step up.
The field remains fairly the same with the top pairings coming from CWG nations, so the 11-6, 11-8 win over England’s Adrian Waller and Alison Waters was a fine statement to make. The 11-9, 4-11, 11-8 thriller in doubles with Joshna against English Sarah Jane Perry and Alison Waters ended up testing her after a walkover in the semis from the top seeds, and Dipika sees plenty of scope for improvement ahead of the CWG which won’t be easy at all.
“For squash players, there’s no Olympics. CWG and Asiad are our biggest events,” she says aware of their contribution in pushing India up the medals table if the gold is cornered. “We’ll be in it to win it. Hope the Games are memorable as the ones before. It’s all about preparation and taking it one day at a time. I’m sure the stress of ‘Games are coming’ will rise, and you can end up flushed out the time you reach there!” she laughs.

At 30, Dipika Pallikal knows that’s when things start getting exciting – after feeling drained out. “That’s where our preparation will kick in,” she says, confident. Knowing her babies will be proud of the journey she and her team – partners, trainers, family, best friend – are undertaking, when they hear of it some grown-up day.