The camaraderie and focus of youngsters makes the future exciting for Indian badminton | Badminton News – The Times of India

Ivan Sozonov couldn’t have been happier with the young shuttlers’ performance at the BWF World Junior Championships held in Guwahati earlier this month.The doubles specialist, who has been coaching at the National Center of Excellence in the Assam capital for almost two years, was particularly impressed with the team spirit as India clinched their first team bronze.“Finally they played as a team. Everyone supported and helped each other. When we had to work during the court hearings on some of the players who we thought should play the most important events, the others did not complain and were not jealous,” Sozonov said.

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.“They all did their job and were very focused. And everyone gave 150% to help the team get the result.”This camaraderie was evident throughout the event and it was a sight to see all the players and coaching staff celebrating on the field after India defeated South Korea in the quarter-finals, helping them secure a first team medal.And two of the players who excelled at the event – ​​alongside Tanvi Sharma and Unnati Hooda – were Rounak Chouhan and Vishakha Toppo.Chouhan played the singles matches in the team event, and one aspect that stood out was how charged he was. Ultimately, it was his performance against South Korea’s Choi Ah Seung that played a huge role in India’s win.The 18-year-old said: “It was a snapshot, maybe because it was very close and it was head-to-head. So after I got every point I was pumping myself up and it helped me to fight for every point.”In the individual events, Chouhan could not do much, but Toppo, who hails from Rourkela in Sundargarh, did.After impressing in the team event, she, along with her partner Bhavya Chhabra, came close to securing a medal in the mixed doubles. Unfortunately, the duo lost in the quarter-finals, but it was a first for an Indian pair.“It was quite special because the entire audience was cheering for us. It was a bit busy. But I thought I would do my best and do everything I could to win that. Unfortunately, we lost, but I played my best,” said Toppo, whose father inspired her to take up the game.In the end, only Tanvi could win a medal in the individual events, while she took silver in the girls’ singles. But it wasn’t just the junior worlds where India excelled. Even in the Asia U17 & U15 meet held last week, India won as many as five medals.While it is too early to say that this will lead to a boom in Indian badminton in the coming years, these achievements are worth celebrating. But there is one small concern that coach Sozonov wants to address, and that is the tendency among the young Indians to always try to become singles players.“Even if the players have everything to play mixed doubles, women’s doubles or men’s doubles, they still think about singles. This transition puts them in great doubt. Maybe parents are involved or some coaches are also pushing them, because I know that singles is a priority event,” the former Russia player added.However, he believes that the situation has improved thanks to the performance of the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Nevertheless, these are exciting times and you can’t wait to see the youngsters continue to shine.