Badminton is not everything in multiple winner Ananya’s life

Badminton came about for Ananya by accident rather than design. When her father was posted in Kochi,six-year-old Ananya had badminton Arjuna Awardee George Thomas as her neighbour. “I used to be friends with his son,Arun,who is now the national U-17 champion. Since he used to play badminton,I gave him company.”

When her father was transferred to Delhi,she joined an academy in Pitampura under Surinder Singh. The badminton bug had bitten her well enough to make the grueling daily commute from her school to the academy and then back home to Dwarka. Things though are far easier now. “At the start of this year my father shifted our family to Pitampura so that I could be nearer to my academy. It has really helped because I can spend more of my time training rather than traveling,” she says.

Ananya realises that at some point she will have to choose a career. “I want to be successful in every option that I have so that I will be able to make a choice rather than my career chosing me because I wasn’t good at something,” she says.

Even in badminton,Ananya will have to make a choice on whether to focus on singles or doubles. “Ananya is a good player and it is a good sign she won in singles but personally I think she is better at doubles,” says Malvinder Dhillon,coach of the Delhi team. Ananya herself prefers doubles “There is a lot of strategy involved and additionally I have always been successful in doubles,” she says. Unlike singles where she does not have a national ranking,she is ranked 10th in the country in doubles. And while she has never got past the pre-quarterfinals in singles,she has two semi final appearances in the U-19 national ranking tournaments in doubles this year.

Which is what makes the three singles title all the more surprising,even to her. “I was expecting to win the doubles titles,I wasn’t hoping to win the singles. In fact I was not even seeded in the singles category,” she says. I know that there is a lot left to learn for me. For example I think that I am still too slow on the court and that is one area I am still working on,” she says.

Even her role models in the sport are top doubles pair — Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa. “I have met them at the Indian Open Super Series where I was a volunteer. They had just finished a match and I quickly got them to pose for pictures with me. Unfortunately I couldn’t speak to them as they were busy on their phone,”she says.