Kanwal Thakar Singh
Personal information
CountryIndia
Born (1954-11-02) 2 November 1954
Chandigarh, India
HandednessRight
EventWomen's singles, Women's doubles, Mixed doubles
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  India
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place1978 EdmontonWomen's doubles
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place1982 New DelhiWomen's Team
Bronze medal – third place1982 New DelhiMixed doubles

Kanwal Thakar Singh (born Kanwal Thakar Kaur) is a former Indian badminton player and an Arjuna Award recipient.[1][2] She presently lives in the United States of America.

Early life

Singh was born on 2 November 1954 in Chandigarh, India in a Jat Sikh family to an Army officer Colonel Thakur Singh Sandhu and theatre actress Diljit Kaur.[3] Singh's sister Kirron Kher is a Bollywood actress and a member of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Education

Singh was bright at studies and finished her post graduation in History from the Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Chandigarh. She was a topper in her class.[2]

Badminton

Singh started playing badminton at the young age of 11. She won the women's singles title at the Punjab State Championship at the age of 15 and made her foray into the national games.[1]

In 1974, she was a runners up to Ami Ghia in the National Championship at Ludhiana.

She won a silver medal in the team event at the Jinnah Centenary Championship at Karachi in 1976.

Singh won her first singles title at Panjim in 1977. Then she again won the Women's Singles title at the National Championships. In 1978 she was able to defend her title and was also successful in women's doubles played against Ami Ghia . It was the same year that she became a member of the Indian team that participated in the Uber Cup competition against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

At the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, she won bronze in doubles with Ami Ghia.[4]

Ami Ghia and Singh reached the quarterfinals at the All England Championship in 1979 where they lost to the top seeded Indonesian pair of Verawati Vaharo and Imelda Wigeono.

In 1981, Singh won gold in the doubles and then a bronze in 1982 New Delhi Asian Games both in Team and Mixes Doubles events.[5]

In July, 2002 she became the Chief Patron of the Chandigarh Badminton Players Welfare Association.[6]

Awards

In 1977-78, Singh was the recipient of the Arjuna Award.[7] She also won the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award.

References

  1. 1 2 "Kanwal Thakur Singh - Sports Bharti | sportsbharti.com". Sports Bharti | sportsbharti.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 "GCG-11 alumni meet tomorrow - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Kirron Kher: My mom was regal & special - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Srivastava, Palash (3 July 2022). "Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh — First Indian women to win Commonwealth Games medal". thebridge.in. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  5. ↑ Akaash Dasgupta (27 August 2018). "Asian Games 2018: Historic day for Indian badminton". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "List of Arjuna Award recipients". Retrieved 15 November 2017.
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