Anitha Pauldurai

Full Description: Anitha Pauldurai (born 22 June 1985, Chennai, Tamil Nadu) 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.