From street shuttler to international star, Unnati makes Rohtak proud

While friends and classmates of Unnati Hooda attended online classes and stayed in the comfort zone of their homes during the Covid-induced lockdown, she used to undergo vigorous training to maintain fitness and learn the finer points of badminton apart from devoting time to studies.

Her discipline and consistent practice paid off as she defeated her role model and double Olympic badminton medalist PV Sindhu in the pre-quarterfinals of China Open-2025 last week. “I didn’t expect I would win, but I thought I would give my all, whatever the result be,” stated Unnati after the stunning victory over Sindhu.

The 17-year-old girl from Chamaria village in Rohtak district could not cross the quarterfinal round as she was defeated by two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, but she achieved a big milestone of her career by going past Sindhu, who has been her idol and biggest inspiration.

Unnati has brought laurels to her state and country and made her parents and coach proud with her swashbuckling performance at various national and international events. From playing badminton in the street and park, she has come a long way and become a shuttler of international repute, currently holding World Rank 31.

Unnati’s journey is a saga of discipline and determination backed by the rock-firm support of her father Dr Upkar Hooda, who quit his teaching job at a government college to facilitate her training and shape her career.

“She started playing badminton around the age of seven. She used to play in the street in front of our house at Bharat Colony in Rohtak. Sometimes, I also used to play with her. Being a badminton enthusiast, I could sense her talent. Hence, I took her to the Badminton Academy at Chhotu Ram Stadium in Rohtak to hone her skills,” says Hooda, who wanted to become a badminton player himself, but was not supported by his family.

He points out that Unnati always has milk, ghee, curd, butter and cheese, apart from home-made desi-ghee laddoos, instead of having non-vegetarian food.

“She prefers to have home-made food even when she is out of her state or country,” states the proud father.

He recalls that when Unnati started playing badminton, most of the people around them used to tell them that the players from Haryana can do well in combat sports like wrestling, boxing and kabaddi etc, but not in a game like badminton.

“Despite their negative and discouraging remarks, she continued to play and performed well at the district, state, national and international levels, thanks to her dedication towards the sport,” says Hooda.

On joining the badminton academy, Unnati used to reach the stadium even before the training time of 5 am and run around the ground before beginning the training regime.

Needless to say, Unnati’s coach Parvesh Kumar is all praises for her.

“Unnati is very disciplined and hard-working. She is passionate about her game and always gives her best in practice. She started by winning the local competitions, followed by district tournaments and state events. Now, she makes us proud by shining at the international level,” states coach Parvesh.

While the young and promising shuttler attributes her success to her father’s big sacrifice, unflinching support and coach’s strict training regime, both of them say that she has succeeded by virtue of self-discipline, hard work and focused approach.