Real sports

Gregoria Mariska Tunjung: India shuttler Malvika Bansod felt proud of her performances in the 2024 BWF season but admitted that accomplishment comes with a sense of responsibility to continue to perform.

Malvika, who has defeated Olympic medal winners twice in her career -- Sania Nehwal in 2022 and Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in 2024 -- said such big upsets have boosted her confidence that she can challenge the top 10 ranked players and can also win against them.

"When I started playing badminton, I had never thought in my life that I'd even get to watch Saina play. So when I got to play a match against her, it was almost a dream come true. And the icing on the cake was that I won that match and I played so well. So it was a really amazing feeling for me," Malvika told IANS in an interaction facilitated by JetSynthesys.