"So how do you say your name?" or "Can you say that again please?" or "Wait whaaat?"

These are some of the reactions I get when I tell someone my name. So, after I moved to England in August 2014 for a year and three months(almost) where I trained as a dressage rider, I was nicknamed Sherry and that name has stuck since.

My life has been a very fun and sometimes scary roller-coaster with its ups and downs. I was born in India and spent sixteen years of my life there. I was also raised by a mother who had done her M.Sc in nuclear physics and then switched to working with the Finance Ministry of India and a father who is a two times Asian Games(Second biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics) silver medalist as a 800m athlete and a proud coach to many successful teams. It was thus no surprise when both, me and my sister, were straight A students and also good at sports. After dabbling about in various activities including but not limited to karate, volleyball, swimming and Indian classical vocal music, I finally found my passion when I took up the equestrian sport dressage.

After training for a while in India, my parents decided to give me a leg up and invested in me so that I could go to England and train under ex-Olympian and nineteen times British champion Vicki Thompson. I literally slogged for a year and three months but at the end qualified to compete at the 2014 Asian Games which were to be held in Incheon, South Korea. At the age of sixteen, I became the youngest Indian to qualify for an equine sport and at the age of seventeen(My birthday is in July and the Games were in September) became the youngest rider to ever compete at such a high platform in the history of Asian Games. The Asian Games brought me a humble amount of prominence. The media covered my story as unlike the other Indian riders, I do not come from an extensively opulent family. I have added links to some of my favorite articles that had been written about me.

As all good things do, the Games too came to an end. After that, I returned to India, finished my high school with some very respectable scores(I had to finish two years of studying and prepare for my SAT in less than six months) and currently am an undergraduate student at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park in the United States of America. I hope to do a double major in Economics and Finance and graduate with honors as I am currently aspiring to be a Paterno Fellow scholar.

Links:

"Shubhsri is Riding High"

"Indian Dressage Team Claims First Fame at 2014 Asian Games"

"Asian Games: Dad's the way for young rider Shubhsri"

"Riding without a saddle"