Shiny Abraham

Shiny Kurisingal Abraham Wilson is a former Indian athlete. Born on 8th May 1965 in Thodupuzha, Idukki, Kerala, India she is working presently as general manager at the Food Corporation of India and is also the Indian team selector and a choice of government for the Selection Committee Board. Shiny developed her interest in athletics in childhood and since then went on focusing and improving her skills. She joined Kottayam where she has been coached by NIS coach PJ Devesla.

Next, she moved to the GV Raja Sports School, Trivandrum to get further training from B Balachandran Nair. To expertise and become proficient in running she also got trained at Alphonsa college, Palai. Becoming the first Indian women who made to the semifinals of the Olympics, she also was the first to run 800 meters in less than two minutes at the Asian Track and Field Meet, New Delhi. Shiny has been a participant in the four Olympic Games held at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, and Atlanta in 1996. She was the captain of the Indian contingent in 1992, and has also officially presented India in three Asian games. Shiny has represented India for over 75 times and has brought all the three medals and various awards for the country. She received a total of 18 gold medals and 2 silver medals from the competition of South Asian Federation in which she participated seven times.

The awards that she has received include The Arjuna Award (1984), Chinese Journalist Award (1991), Padma Shri and Birla Award in 1998. She was honored by the UNICEF (2002), has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from CNN IBN (2009), from JFW Achievers and Sun Networks in 2012. Shiny Abraham is married to the very famous international swimmer Wilson Cherian in 1988, who has also won Arjuna Award and is presently working as an assistant sports officer, Chennai. They have three children who are Shilpa, Shane, and Sandra.