Ludhiana baddies selected for national camp

Advertisement

Anil Datt

Ludhiana, May 22

Prodigy badminton players from Ludhiana, who have made big strides in the domestic and overseas competitions — Lakshay Sharma and Arnam Jain — have been selected for the national badminton camp slated to commence at Bengaluru from June 1.

The names of these two boys along with that of another player from Punjab namely Radhika Sharma from Hoshiarpur, have figured in the list of players (boys and girls’ U-13 and 15) for the first phase of the National Sub-Junior Summer Coaching Camp-2018 to be organised by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) at Padukone-Dravid Sports Centre for Excellence, Bengaluru from June 1 to 21.

In all, 45 talented shuttlers from all over the country have been invited for the camp. Lakshay Sharma and Radhika Sharma (U-13) and Arnam Jain (U-15) from Punjab received the call from BAI for this camp.

This bunch of players, selected on the basis of their performance, would undergo special training-cum-coaching under the guidance of best available coaches and experts to hone their skills to prepare them for the future international badminton competitions.

Lakshay and Arnam, both trainees of the NIS trained coach, Mangat Rai Sharma, have stirred the badminton arena by performing exceedingly well in the state and national-level tournaments besides hogging limelight at a couple of international championships.

Lakshay Sharma (12), a student of Class VIII at Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, has a long list of achievements against his name that include three times state champion in the U-13 category, silver medal winner in the U-17 section in the state tournament.

In addition to this, Lakshay has won gold medals (U-13) for two consecutive years in the National Ranking Badminton Tournament besides securing bronze medal in the Sub Junior Open National Tournament in the same age group.

Lakshay also stamped his supremacy in the international tournaments. He won gold medal in the singles category in the Swiss Youth Open Badminton Tournament and followed by another title victory, when he notched up gold medal in the Youth International Championship at Glasgow in Scotland.

Similarly, Arnam Jain (13), a student of Class IX at Sat Paul Mittal School, too, gave an impressive performance during the championships at state, national-level and abroad.

Arnam finished runner-up in the U-15 section in the state championship and won a bronze medal in the U-14 category in the National School Games.

Arnam, too secured positions in the Swiss Youth Open Tournament and Youth International Championship at Glasgow. He won silver medals in both these tournaments.

Coach, Mangat Rai Sharma, said the coaching stint at Bengaluru would help a lot in improving these lads’ game further. Here, they practice for only two hours in the evening and at Bengaluru, they would concentrate on the game the entire day. Practice along with the best players from the country would benefit the duo, he said.

“I hope the boys avail this opportunity to learn new techniques there, which would help them in performing well in future competitions,” Sharma said.

Meanwhile, Sister Reshmi and Sister Lourdes, principal and vice-principal, respectively, Sacred Heart Convent School congratulated the players and their coach for receiving a call from BAI to attend the camp. Rajinder Singh Kalsi, honorary general secretary, Punjab Badminton Association, also appreciated the boys and their coach for their inclusion in the camp.