Seventeen-year-old Mumbai shuttler and his partner Arjun MR of Kerala are making waves in junior circuit nationally and internationally
After Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta, there aren't many names on people's mind when asked about badminton players in the country who play doubles. Mumbai lad Chirag Shetty wants to add his name to the list, and with performances over the last two years, he's making sure at least the men's doubles for India in the years to come will be in safe hands.
Shetty, along with Arjun MR from Kerala, have been India's top-ranked pair in the U-17 category in men's doubles. Ranked 13th in the world, the pair won the Asian Badminton Championship last year in October in Indonesia. Despite both being 17, the pair went on to win the U-19 men's doubles at the National Badminton Championship a month later. A tough test awaited them at the Junior World Championships in April where they finished in the quarterfinals, but that seemed to motivate them as they bagged the Swiss and Belgium Open in September.
Shetty lamented the low number of doubles players in the country. "Kids playing badminton have the chance to go right to the very top. But the base for doubles isn't that strong when we compare it with other countries. A reason for this is that many of the coaches themselves aren't double players," Shetty said. He practices five days a week at the Uday Pawar Vadminton Academy at the Goregaon Sports Club.
Shetty picked up the sport at the age of ten, playing singles. At the school nationals, he won the U-14 tourney and was selected to represent Maharashtra in singles in 2011 and 2012. It was his coaches who felt that he must make the change to doubles and Shetty felt that playing with a partner has only made him better.
"Arjun and I have been playing together for the last four years. One good thing about playing doubles is that you don't have to cover the entire court. You can always rely on your partner to cover up for your weaknesses and this is exactly where Arjun and I have an advantage over the others. I'm the taller of the two, so I cover the back court. Sometimes working in tandem might be the only way to get the best out of somebody," said Shetty, a Lin Dan fan.
Shetty makes it a point to watch the Indian seniors play. He hasn't got much of a chance to interact with them but the 17-year-old did make the most of Matthias Boe's valuable tips when the men's doubles silver medallist in the 2012 Olympics spent some days at the Goregaon academy. "One of my main concerns is my height and weight. He said that I needed to add weight to my legs as one needed to shift his entire bodyweight down there while playing to help in balance. You know it makes sense when he tells the taller players to bend down as he himself is 6-foot-2-inch tall," Shetty said.
Shetty's schedule is no less than packed. The past week has been spent with the second year commerce student from NM college preparing for his examinations. He will give the All-India Junior Championship in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, a miss, giving him more more time to rest and prepare for the National Badminton Championships in Patna in December. "That's just for 2014. Next year is a crucial year for me as I will be participating at the U-19 Asian Games and Junior World Championships (to be held in Peru). At the same time, I will be concentrating on studies and pursue a bachelors degree in information technology," Shetty added.
adit.ganguly@dnaindia.net
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