7. Dipa Karmakar:
Dipa Karmakar is an artistic gymnast, who represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She is the first bengali as well as Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics, and the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years. She attained 4th position in Women’s Vault Gymnastics event of Rio Olympics 2016 with an overall score of 15.066. She is recipient of Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
Workout: Discipline is what Dipa swears by. “I wake up at 7am and then go down to the mess for breakfast at 8am. After that, it’s practice time from 8.30 in the morning till 12 noon. I return to my room, freshen up and rush for lunch at 1pm. It’s again time to take some rest and recover by sleeping till 3.30 pm,” said Dipa.
This is not the end of training for the petite-yet-muscular gymnast. The next round of training session for her begins at 4.30 pm. “The practice session ends at 8.30 pm, after which I eat my dinner and call it a day,” said Dipa.
Diet: It’s a protein-packed diet for the international gymnast.” My diet schedule includes more of chicken. For breakfast, I eat egg, dalia, chana and a glass of milk. For lunch again, I have a couple of pieces of boiled chicken. For dinner, I only eat chicken and a vegetable soup. This is the diet I have been following not just after my qualification for the Rio Olympics but for years now,” said Dipa.
“I can’t eat anything else as such, as the burden of compensation becomes bigger,” she adds. Although, on the weekends, she does get some respite. “On the weekends at the hostel, we do get a little bit of variety. But then again, it has to be a variety of chicken. We get chicken pakoras to eat at the mess on Saturdays, and on Sundays, the special treat includes fried eggs,” said Dipa. Another treat she has to give up are the sweet cravings she has rather often.
In between the training session, Dipa replenishes the loss of electrolytes and energy by munching on dry fruits and sipping on juices and energy drinks. On asking whether she ever gets a treat from her coach on performing well, pat comes Dipa’s matter-of-fact reply, “I get only whatever suits my body”. But there is something she is really fond of eating and doesn’t get to eat in Delhi. Watch her talk about the one dish that makes her mouth water, and it’s NOT chicken:
8. Mithali Raj:
Mithali Dorai Raj is an Indian cricketer and the captain of the Indian Women’s cricket team in Tests and ODI. Often regarded as one of the greatest cricketing batters to have ever played the game, she is the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket and the only female cricketer to surpass the 6,000 run mark in ODIs. She is the first player to score 7 consecutive 50s in ODIs. Raj is the first captain (men or women) to lead India to an ICC ODI World Cup final twice – 2005 and 2017.
Workout: She does normal weight training to prepare for the sport.
Diet: She treats herself to occasional sweets which is quite visible on her Instagram.