A century ago — 101 years, to be precise — when Nora Polley was preparing to serve on the tennis courts of the 1924 Paris Olympics, and becoming in the process the first woman to represent India in international sport, she would have scarcely imagined the scenes that spilled over Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil turf over the weekend. Sunday night’s coronation of the Indian women’s team as cricket’s world champions would have told her that Indian women’s sport has come a long way. It has been a century of individual and collective dreams and struggles, of challenging stereotypes, patriarchy and gender bias, and most importantly, of silencing the doubters and proving that sporting excellence can lead to identity, dignity and rewarding careers. That the World Cup triumph will prove the tippi

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