Badminton players begin practice sessions

Anil Datt

Ludhiana, October 13

After a long period of restrictions due to the spread of Covid-19, the authorities have permitted players to resume their activities, though in a controlled manner. Sportspersons have started visiting playgrounds. They are allowed to take part in practice sessions with precautions.

Badminton players have begun attending their daily sessions at the coaching centre of the Shastri Hall here near the Guru Nanak Stadium. The players include beginners as well as those falling in the sub-junior, junior and senior categories.

Badminton prodigy and cynosure of all eyes Lakshay Sharma (15) too has established himself in the sports arena.

It was after a gap of over 30 years, that a player from Ludhiana made it to the national team in the singles category. He was selected to represent the country in the Badminton Asia Junior U-15 and U-17 Championship held last year in Indonesia.

A student of Class X at Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, Lakshay, trainee of his father, Mangat Rai Sharma, an NIS trained coach, has a number of titles under his belt that include Swiss Open Youth Badminton Championship and Glasgow Youth International Championship.

Lakshay also made big strides, winning the state championship, north zone and national ranking tournaments more than once.

For his outstanding achievements, Lakshay has been selected for the scholarship under the Khelo India Youth Games, a project of the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under which talented and promising boys and girls are imparted specialised training/coaching to prepare them for international competitions such as Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

Pranaav Chopra started making waves as a doubles and mixed doubles player about a decade ago. Pranaav hogged limelight when he basked glory at the national-level competitions. He also represented the country in a couple of international tournaments and fetched honours too.

A trainee of the Pullela Gopi Chand Academy, Hyderabad, Jerry also donned national colours in the XXth Commonwealth Games at Glasgow in Scotland. He also took part in the professional badminton league (PBL).

Pranaav said he was preparing for the upcoming badminton tournament scheduled to be held in January in Thailand while Lakshay had been following a strict schedule to prepare himself for competitions to be conducted after the complete lifting of restrictions.

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