Anitha Pauldurai

Pauldurai was born in a middle class Tamil family to late police constable G. Pauldurai and housewife Lalitha in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu. She did her schooling at St. Antony’s Higher Secondary School in Santhome and Lady Sivaswamy Ayyar Girls’ Higher Secondary School in Mylapore. She did her B.Com.at Madras University and later did MBA (HRM) from Annamalai University. She joined Southern Railway 2003, and worked as Officer on Special Duty, Ticket Checking. In 2021, she became a Chief Welfare Inspector (Sports). N Sampath was one of her early coaches at the Rising Star Club. == Career ==

Pauldurai played for 18 years in the Indian women's national team (2000 to 2017). She is the first Indian woman who played nine Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) championships continuously representing the national squad. Anitha has a record of 30 medals in national championships. She was also the youngest to captain the Senior National Team at the age of 19 at the FIBA Asia Championship in China. She 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. She was employed with Indian Railways and in domestic events, she played for Southern Railways. Even in November 2022, she represented Tamil Nadu that won the Federation Cup at Bengaluru. ==Coaching career==

In October 2017, she was named as the assistant coach for the Indian under 16 team, after nearly 18 years of her playing career. ==Awards and achievements==

• Padma Shri Award for Sports in 2021 - Fourth Highest Civilian Award in India. • Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in senior National Basketball Championship at Chennai 2018. • Chief Minister State Sports Award 2013. Apart from these top awards, she received many other honours including FEMINA Super Daughter Award 2021, Tamil Nadu Women achiever Award from the Brand Republic 2021, Life Time Achievement Award from Rotary Club Chennai Velachery 2021, Sports Women of the Year Award from Jeppiaar Institute of Technology 2021, Raindrops Women Achiever Award 2021, Best Sports Women Award from TN World Women Wing 2021, Wonder Women Award from Virisha Book of World Record 2021, Women Achiever Award from State Bank Of India 2019, Villayatu Ratna Award from News7 channel Tamil Ratna Awards 2018, Received Doctor of Letters (D.LITT) from DK International Research Foundation 2018, Women Achiever Award from Rajalakshmi Engineering College 2018, Young Achiever Award from International Youth Fest 2018, Women Achiever Award from Vels University 2017, Vikadan award for Golden Captain 2016, Top Plays of the Tournament 2013 FIBA Asian Women, Southern Railway General Manager's Railway Week Award for sports 2008, Best Player Award in 17th Youth Nationals at Vashi 2001 and she also received Book of World Records certificate for contribution towards the basketball sport in India. ==International sporting achievements==

==National sporting achievements==