Did you know that Ashleigh Barty, who won the Australian Open women’s singles title on Saturday, has been a very good player of cricket and golf? She usually bats at number six in the Big Bash League with Brisbane Heat. She says that the way she hits more shots on the cow corner in cricket, she gets the benefit of cross court shots in tennis. Similarly, the straight drive of cricket also helped her to play down the line shots in tennis. Not only this, Barty has also won a professional golf tournament on one occasion.
West Indies great batsman Vivian Richards has been a very good player of football. He played for Antigua in the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He is the only player to have played the World Cup in Cricket and Football. In cricket, he played four WC and was a winning member of 1975 and 1979 WC. Similarly, South Africa’s all-time great fielder Jonty Rhodes played hockey for his country. He was selected in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics but his team could not qualify for these games. He was called for trial for the next Atlanta Olympics but he had to withdraw due to hamstring injury.
South African batsman AB de Villiers played a total of eight games. At junior level, he was a member of Hockey, Football, Rugby, Tennis and Badminton teams. In Tennis, he played in the Junior Davis Cup and in Badminton he was a member of the Under-19 team. He was also a well known golfer of the country. He has won the 100 M sprint race in record time.
Yuzvendra Chahal was a junior level international chess player. He has participated in the World Youth Chess Championship at the junior level. Surya Kumar Yadav has been a state level badminton player in age group tournaments. Similarly, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won the silver medal in the double trap shooting event of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, was once selected in Madhya Pradesh cricket probables. After becoming the Sports Minister, he once appealed to the players across the country that those who are not selected in cricket, they should adopt other sports so that they can get a chance to show their skills.
Former Kenyan cricketer Asif Karim has played against Egypt in Davis Cup. Indian women’s cricketer Jemima Rodrigues was once a member of Maharashtra’s Under-17 and Under-19 hockey teams. Arjuna Award winner Rachna Govil was also a marathon runner in addition to being a 10m air pistol shooter. MJ Gopalan played a Test match against England in Kolkata in 1934 and played as an all-rounder in a total of 78 first-class matches. He also played as a center back for the Indian Hockey team. Now Ashleigh Barty has achieved the distinction of becoming the host nation’s women’s champion after 44 years at the Australian Open, after trying luck in cricket and golf.