“I survived the crash but it shattered my collarbone into three pieces. It crushed my dreams of winning 3 championships and conquering the Himalayan range. The doctors put in a plate and 7 screws,” recalls Aishwarya Pissay. At the time, the 21-year-old had no idea that her passion for bikes would take her this far.
Pissay’s tryst with bikes began when she decided to participate in a TV show – that saw her traverse a tough terrain of 8,000 odd kilometres from Rann of Kutch to Cherrapunji spanning 24 days.
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Aishwarya is a road racer in Apex Racing Academy and a rallyist representing TVS Motor Corporation.
Her most remarkable stint, she says, was at the Raid de Himalaya (RdH) where she took over the tracks on an Apache RTR 200 – to finish fourth in the Moto Xtreme category and was the only woman to complete the race.
But Pissay had to fight to achieve her dream. “Since I hail from a conservative family, the biggest obstacle for me was to break through a male-dominated sport. The men I was racing with said I should just stay home, lest I fall and break a bone. I didn’t say anything, but I made sure I responded to them with my performance,” she told The Quint.
Currently a road racer in Apex Racing Academy and a rallyist representing TVS Motor Corporation, Aishwarya is the first-ever national two-wheeler racing champion in the girls category.