Aditi Chauhan: Here’s all that you need to know about India’s first woman footballer to play in UK
Mumbai: Indian footballer Aditi Chauhan has inked a deal with English Premier League (EPL) club West Ham United's ladies team, becoming the first woman player from the country to have been signed up by a top club in England. The club said that Aditi, who has represented the under-19 Indian national women's team at AFC Qualifiers in Malaysia, was a late addition to their squad during pre-season.
Here are some things you might want to know:
Aditi Chauhan was born on 20th November, 1992.
Her family moved to New Delhi when she was 9 years old.
Before starting off with football, Aditi showed interest in karate, where she has a black belt, and basketball, in which she made it to the school team.
She also represented her school in various zonal and inter-zonal athletic meets for discus throw, javelin throw and shot put.
Her grip of the ball and good athletic built prompted her coaches to try her out as a football goalkeeper.
Sunday well spent watching charity football match played by celebrities #salmankhan #Hrithik #Aamir #Abhishek pic.twitter.com/9Rl4O5V8TC
— Aditi Chauhan (@aditi03chauhan) July 20, 2014And she turned out to be better at football when she represented Delhi under-19 at 15 years of age.
Aditi also made it to the India under-19 team at 17 years of age.
She was part of the Indian team that won the 2002 SAFF Women's Championship in Sri Lanka.
Her favourite football club is Barcelona and favourite player is Lionel Messi.
In India, her favourite club is Pune FC.
Her favourite Indian player is Oinam Bembem Devi who she played alongside during the 2012 SAFF Cup triumph.
She was pursuing a Masters in Sports Management degree at the Loughborough University, England, and playing for their university team when she got picked for West Ham.
Besides being the first Indian woman to play in UK, Aditi is also the third Indian to join a top British club, after Mohammed Salim who played for Scottish team Celtic FC in 1936 and Bhaichung Bhutia who played for Bury FC between 1999-2002. Indian men's team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu played first division football in Norway.
(All Photos: Facebook)
She made her competitive debut for West Ham on August 16, in a 5-0 defeat to Coventry United in the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division.
