The Arjuna Award, begins Joshna Chinappa, was a really special moment, “I was happy to know I had won it. But it was more special getting it at the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” smiles this Chennai-based squash champion. A tomboy growing up, Joshna is a complete outdoorsy person. “My dad is a squash player and I used to follow him to the Madras Cricket Club and that’s where I started. I loved playing squash and decided at 10 that I was going to make it a career,” she says. Joshna, who was the first Indian girl to win the British Squash Championship in 2003 in the Under-19 category, confesses that she has had many hard games. “But one of them was when I was 1-0 down to my opponent at the finals of the British Open Under-19. It was a hard-fought game,” she says. She has never had a role model, she says, though she has always looked up to PT Usha. Her parents have been her main source of motivation and support. Her father, Anjan Chinappa, is a coffee planter from Coorg, and mother, Sunitha, a housewife who is very involved in helping with her travel schedules and lodging across the world. Her brother, Gaurav, is a doctor. And she dotes on her grandfather, PM Belliappa, who is a retired IAS officer and her grandmother, Leela Chinappa. Happy in the fact that she is blessed with a supportive family, Joshna likes her space. “I love being on my own after training and maybe watching TV shows online. If it’s the weekend, I love a good bar of chocolate too!” adds the national champion. Sport brings with it a spate of its own lessons, and for Joshna, injuries have only made her more aware of her body. “After I got injured and during recovery, I realised that the human body is amazing, given what it can achieve. I learnt not to take it for granted and to treat it with respect by taking care of my health, training hard, eating right and sleeping well,” says this youngster. “The only thing I am passionate about is training. But I also like playing other sports, like badminton and tennis. I try and read sometimes,” she adds. A private person, Joshna reveals that she likes to focus on her game and stay away from the attention that sports stars draw. “I think if one is a female athlete, and doing well, one will get more attention. But for me personally, I have always stayed away from it unless I have to be in it. It’s just exhausting and I would rather be training and focusing on my game than being seen at some social event regularly or doing photo shoots,” she says, in parting.
