Anupama- Devika, the stars in making

Deepankar Sharda

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23

For the 14-year-old Panchkula shuttler Anupama Upadhyaya winning the U-15 national gold medal, during the 33rd Sub Junior Badminton Championships in Bhubaneswar, was special.

Not because she worked day and night to earn it, but for the fact that she defeated the top seed Tara Shaha of Maharashtra in her sixth attempt!

Anupama kept her nerves calm during the 55 minutes of see-saw battle to pull off a thrilling 21-17 15-21 21-11 victory against the top seed in the final, on Sunday. She kept her confidence high, despite facing defeats in her first five face-offs against the top seed.

“In every of the five face offs, I stretched the match to the third set but ended up as looser. On Sunday, things were different. I was playing my natural game. The match again went to the third set, but this time I pulled off a win. I am happy with my performance but more important, I am satisfied,” said Anupama.

A student of CL DAV Public School (Panchkula), she started practising in 2014 under DK Sen in Almora (Uttarakhand). Later, she shifted her base to Panchkula in December 2017, and practiced at Tau Devi Lal Badminton Academy (Sector 3 Panchkula) under NIS Coach Rohit Mandhan. In July 2019, she was selected under Khelo India scheme and since then shifted to the Khelo India accredited academy– Shining Star Academy (Bahadurgarh). She is currently no.3 in U-15 category, no.6 in doubles U-15 category and no.10 in U-17 category in the rankings of the Badminton Association of India (BAI). “I am training under head coach Srikant Bakshi and Indonesian Coach Hariawan Hong in Bahadurgarh,” said Anupama.

“Earlier, this year, I have won bronze medal in the Pembangunan Jayaraya Junior Grand Prix Tournament in Indonesia. Followed by silver medal in the All India Sub Junior (U-15) Badminton Championship in Assam, bronze medal in the All India Sub Junior (U-17) Badminton Championship in Manipur, besides winning gold medals in U-17 and U-19 during the 53rd Haryana State Badminton Championship,” said Anupama.

She further added, “It’s been over five years, I am active in badminton. But Khelo India programme has helped me guiding to right way. Defeating Tara shows my progress and I hope to carry my form in future tournaments,” said Anupama.

Another star in making

Another Panchkula shuttler Devika Suhag shined in the 33rd Sub Junior Badminton Championships in Bhubaneswar by winning U-15 singles bronze medal and U-17 doubles gold medal. In doubles final, Devika and Ridhi Kaur Toor defeated second seeded Pranavi N and Sarumathi V 14-21 21-18 21-18. Devika, who was training under Coach Mandhan at Sector 3 Complex, got a major shot in the arm after she was selected for the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (Bengaluru) on the basis of her performance in the national circuit. A student of Bhavan Vidyalaya (Chandigarh), she represents Haryana in open championships, while play for Chandigarh in School Games Federation of India (SGFI) nationals. “I started playing badminton for recreational purpose, after I turn eight. However, I started developing interest by participating in various tournaments. I have improved a lot under Rohit (Mandhan) sir,” said Devika, who is also 14-years -old. “It’s been nearly six months of my stay in Bengaluru. But I can feel the change. We have better felicities, better coaching and better exposure under one single roof. There is a total change in my approach now, as I wanted to shine in world of badminton rather than just making fame at national or state level,” added Devika. Earlier, she won bronze medal in the U-15 ranking tournament in Imphal, followed by U-17 and U-19 doubles gold medal. She is a state champion from last three years and last year won silver medal in U-14 singles and team bronze medal for Chandigarh in school nationals (Maharashtra). “It’s been a struggle to manage between Chandigarh-Bengaluru-Panchkula but thanks to my parents and school mentors, I am just focusing on badminton. I hope to repay back the struggle they are putting to motivate me by winning something really big,” said Devika.

Next target

Both players will now represent Haryana in BAI U-19 National Championships, at Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh), starting tomorrow. Both the players will also play in the U-19 singles event. Both the players will eye to claim a respectable finish in the team events. “The team event is starting tomorrow and we hope to claim a respectable finish to end the year on a positive note,” said Anupama, seconded by Devika. This was for the first time that four girls of Panchkula brought laurels to Haryana any national championship in Bhubaneswar. The Haryana Badminton Association as well as District Badminton Association of Panchkula will honour the medal winners. Overall Haryana won eight medals –two gold medals, one silver medal and five bronze medals.