Indian-Americans take strides in sports and academics: ESPN

New York, Aug 11: Earlier, Indians in the US, were better known for excelling in academics and rarely making waves in the field of sports, but offlate with four Indian-Americans making strides in both the fields, are being recognised for their talents. ESPN, a fortnightly published by the network, issued its Academic All-America honour roll citing the achievement of four Indians, Anjuly Cherukuri, Praveen Pamidimukkala, Gautam Samarth and Priya Srikanth.

The magazine is published from Bristol, in neighbouring Connecticut. Its honour roll is a top national recognition for university and college students who excel in academics and sports. Anjuly, a pole vaulter and javelin thrower, recently graduated from the University of Rochester, in New York. She was selected as a key player in the Women's Track and Field-Cross Country Section in the College Division.

She earned her Bachelor's degree from Rochester with a 3.93 Grade Percentage Average (GPA), a high academic achievement. She was the recipient of the Janet Howell Clark Prize, given annually to a woman student who has shown promise in creative work in science and mastery of allied fields. She was the third in pole vault and second in javelin at a state championship.

Praveen, a volleyball player, was named North East Collegiate Volleyball Association's Rookie of the Year in 2005 and Player of the Year in 2007. He won an honour as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Male Freshman Athlete of the Year (2005) and the MIT Male Senior Athlete of the Year (2008).

Praveen, son of Vijay and Jyothi Pamidimukkala, based in Edison, in neighbouring New Jersey, graduated from Stevens High School and began playing volleyball during the tenth grade.

Gautam, a tennis ace has been a member of Trinity College Varsity Tennis men's team since 2005. He was chosen the Most Valuable Player for the 2006 and 2008 seasons at the college.

Majoring in Economics with Mathematics concentration and a minor in Chinese, he has a GPA of 4.1. He was awarded Class of 2009 Holland Scholar, awarded to the student with the highest GPA in the class, an honour received in the last two years. He attended high school in Pune, Maharashtra, and ranked number five in the All-India Junior Tennis Championship for 2003-04.

Priya, a swimming and diving champion recently graduated from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. She was the national University Athletic Association's 2008 Woman Diver of the Year, a title she held last year also.

She graduated with 3.99 GPA. She majored in biochemistry and women and gender studies.

UNI