Paper Title
Effect of Training on Menarcheage and Various Anthropometric Profiles of Young Elite Indian Female Athletes of Different Sports

Abstract
Menarche is an important milestone in a woman�s life.Age at menarche is used as indicator of female sexual maturity.Sports activity/ training may also influence pubertal development, sexual maturation, and its major event, the menarche. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of training and compare the age of menarche and selected anthropometric parameters including somatotype among the young elite Indian sportswomen engaged in different sports/ games. A total number of forty six (n=46) sportswomen from gymnastics(n=17),archery(n=17) and table tennis(n=12) within age group of 13-21 years were evaluated for age of menarche and selected anthropometric parameters like height, weight, body mass index (BMI), lean body mass (LBM), body fat %, sum of skinfolds, bone diameters, somatotype rating following standard procedures. The mean age at menarche was observed to be 13.0�1.33 years,12.8�2.38 years and 12.4�2.57 years of the gymnasts, archers and table tennis playersrespectively. Significant differences(p<0.05) were observed in age of menarche, height, weight, LBM, tricep, subscapular, suprailliac, calf skinfolds, sum of skin folds and somato types ratingswhen compared among thegroups. However,Post Hoc multiple comparison tests further revealed that gymnasts were found to be significantly taller and lighter in comparison to the archers whereas table tennis players attained age of menarche significantly earlier than archers. Mesomorphic and endomorphic predominance were observed in gymnasts and table tennis players respectively among the groups.The findings of this study revealed that different sports exhibit specific influence on the age at menarche and other anthropometric characteristicswhich were probably due to the nature of their sports specific training and activity. Index Terms - Archery, Gymnastics, Menarche, Table Tennis