Maharashtra may no longer be a dominant force in Badminton singles events but the emergence of young doubles players Chirag Shetty, Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker and experienced player such as Prajatkta Sawant has kept state’s badminton alive at the International level.
The 21-year-old Shetty has won five titles in International tournaments with his Andhra Pradesh partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and a historic silver at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. Simran from Mumbai and Ritika from Nagpur, both in their teens, have made smooth transition to senior level and have won two international titles already. Prajakta may not be part of national set up currently but she has done well at international level in mixed doubles with Malaysian partner Yogendran Khrishnan and Sanyogita Ghorpade in women’s doubles.
Shetty who won the Tata India International here in 2016 has seen meteoric rise with Satwik since then and goes into Jakarta Asian Games and medal prospect in doubles and team event. The Goregaon resident thought the emergence of top class doubles players at the same time was a positive sign for the State.
“Well it is somewhat coincidental. I feel the domination Maharashtra had in 70s and 80s is no more so it is a positive sign to see many players coming out of Maharahstra again,” he said.
Shetty who did his schooling from Ryan International school started playing at the age of seven under former international Uday Pawar at Goregoan Sports Complex. The talented shuttler still trains at GSC whenever he is in Mumbai.
“My dad a restaurateur helped me at the start, he was one who put me into badminton at age of seven at GSC. I started with singles and won U17 and U19 state championship and also reached semis in All India tournament in U17 and U19 categories. Gradually, I started doubles and since I was playing better in doubles I had to take a choice and I chose doubles,” he said.
The choice hasn’t proved bad at all as he has been on a purple patch and recently made into top 20 in BWF men’s doubles rankings. But his success like every athlete has come at a cost. With little infrastructure in Mumbai and only just one tournament happening annually in city has kept Shetty mostly out of home.
“Most of the time I am in Hyderabad in national camp or playing tournaments in that city or outside. Whenever I am free even for 2-3 days I make a point to comeback to Mumbai,” he said.
Shetty who is pursuing graduation at Monjee College of Commerce and Economics hasn’t been able to attend his classes and also missed his last semester exam in April.
“For others it has reputation of being a strict college but they are very cooperative for me and not that strict. It has really helped me as sometimes throughout the academic session I am not able to attend classes, I just give exams. In April I had sixth semester final exam but I couldn’t give as I had went for CWG. They supported me there as well and gave me option to sit in exams in October to finish my graduation,” he said.
