I Can Compete With Top Indian Senior Shuttlers At Equal Footing, Feels National Champ Anupama

Former junior world No.1 shuttler Anupama Upadhyaya, who was crowned women's singles champion at the Senior National Badminton Championship last week, believes that after the Nationals triumph, she can compete with top Indian senior players at the equal footing.

The 18-year-old got the better of Aakarshi Kashyap 20-22, 21-17, 24-22 in an hour and 18 minutes in a topsy-turvy final to clinch the national title.

The teenager rose to the top spot in the junior badminton world rankings last year, the sixth Indian shuttler to top the junior world badminton rankings.

She has won two BWF International Challenge events - the 2021 India International Challenge in Bengaluru in 2021 and Polish Open 2022 after claiming a junior international title in Uganda last year. Anupama had also made the semifinals at the Syed Modi International Super 300 in January, 2022.

Speaking to IANS, the teenage shuttler, who is targeting to break into Top-30 of the BWF rankings by the end of the season, opened up about her experience from the Nationals, transition from Junior to Senior circuit and more.

Excerpts:

IANS: How is the feeling of becoming a senior national champion after engaging in a tough fight with Aakarshi? Can you elaborate more about your experience from the tournament?

Anupama: The final was really tough. But before going into the final I had a strong belief that I could defeat my opponent. In December last year, I lost in the semifinals to her (Aakarshi) in the Bangladesh International Challenge, 2022 from a winning position. I had made a few unforced errors in the 1st game and 3rd game, which gave her an early lead. I wanted to amend that mistake this time. So even after losing the first game, I was confident of winning the second and third. I eventually won, albeit a little topsy-turvy.

I went into the tournament believing that I can go all the way and win this tournament. I had defeated almost all the top players participating in this tournament except for Aakarshi Kashyap. In these kinds of tournaments, you have to be a little lucky too. When the draw came, I had an easy draw till Pre-Quarters. At that time, I thought wow looks like luck is on my side. Anything is possible now, just take one match at a time after Pre-Quarters.

IANS: You have a win against Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod and now you have registered a victory over Aakarshi. Whom do you find the tougher opponent?

Anupama: All three are excellent players and are equally talented and tough opponents. But I think Aakarshi is a little stronger and tougher than the other two because of her experience.

IANS: You have gone for the Jr. World Championship as world no. 1 but the result was not what you hoped for. What were the learnings from the event?

Anupama: Yes, the World Juniors was an eye opener for me. It made me realise that I still have a lot to do in terms of strength and power. It made me realise that strength and power are very important at the world level. I understood how strongly Chinese, Korean, and Indonesians are built. And how the Japanese compensate for their height and power by increasing their speed and agility in the court. Now I have started working on increasing my strength as well as agility and reaction.

IANS: How do you see the transition from Junior to Senior level?

Anupama: The transition from the Junior to Senior Level generally takes 2 to 3 years. Sometimes extraordinary talents are able to transit a little faster, say in a year or a year and a half. There is a difference between the Indian Women's Badminton level and International Senior Level. The challenge is to cover that level quickly. This needs working on all court and off-court aspects of badminton at war footing.

IANS: After your national's title, you are closer to announcing yourself at the senior level among other Indian shuttlers. How are things going to change from now in terms of training, techniques etc, especially with the qualification window for Paris opening in May?

Anupama: After the National triumph, I now believe that I can compete with top Indian senior players at equal footing. But to compete with international players from other top countries, I need to work harder on my on-court as well as off-court training and improving my technique. I need to be doing not only hard but smart and specific training too. I need to work specifically on my weaknesses. I need to fine tune my strokes and make them a little sharper and also deceptive.

IANS: As a woman, being in sports, what are the challenges one has to go through in the initial stage of a career?

Anupama: I don't think I ever had to ponder over this question. Never ever my father, my mother or even my Grandmother made me feel different from boys. In fact, my father used to make me play more with boys. He would ask me to compete with boys, putting in my mind the belief that I can defeat them. Maybe some of my relatives must have thought why my father is putting so much effort into a girl child. Sports need sacrifices not only from the player but the whole family has to put in their total effort.

IANS: As a woman, being in sports, what are the challenges one has to go through in the initial stage of a career?