Dipika Pallikal Karthik is an Indian squash player who became the first Indian to break into the top 10 in the PSA Women's rankings. She achieved this feat in 2012. The previous year, she had clinched three WISPA titles: the Orange County Open, the Dread Sports Series 2 event and the Crocodile Challenge Cup. She had also reached the quarterfinal of the World Open, which gained her worldwide attention. With these results, she reached her career-best ranking of 10 in December 2012. That year, she was honored by the government with the 'Arjuna Award'. 2014 was another important year in her career as she won the women's doubles gold medal along with Joshna Chinappa at the Commonwealth Games, followed by a bronze medal in women's singles at the Asian Games. She received the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2014. In 2016, she was part of the gold-medal-winning Indian Women's team at the South Asian Games and the silver-medal-winning Indian Women's team at the Asian Team Championship.
