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UP’s Divyam eyes podium finish at Junior World Badminton Championships
Young shuttler from Saharanpur is training hard at the Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad for the last three years
The absence of quality coaches and partners seems to have forced many shuttlers to leave Uttar Pradesh and join top badminton academies elsewhere in India, including the ones run by former All England champions Pullela Gopichand in Hyderabad and Prakash Padukone in Bengaluru.
Only this June, a shift from Uttar Pradesh yielded positive results for Tanseesha Singh of Basti’s Harraiya tehsil who made it to the Indian squad for the upcoming Badminton Asia Junior Championship. Now, it’s the turn of Divyam Arora of Saharanpur to represent India at the Junior World Badminton Championships scheduled from September 25 to October 8 in the USA.
Divyam, 17, the first shuttler from Uttar Pradesh to play in the Junior World Championships, will partner Haryana’s Mayank Rana both in the men’s doubles in the mixed team and individual events.
“I need to win a medal at the World Championships to kick-start my career in the senior category,” said Divyam who has been training at the Gopichand’s Academy in Hyderabad for the last three years.
“I had no choice but to leave Uttar Pradesh as there weren’t enough good players to train against. But still I am playing for my state Uttar Pradesh in domestic championships,” said Divyam.
“At Gopichand’s academy, I have enough partners as well as quality coaches,” Divyam said.
He praised Gopichand for taking personal interest in his training.
“His (Gopichand’s) style of training is very special. It allows every individual to exchange knowledge with Gopi Sir, who is always open to suggestions and keeps inspiring for hard work,” he added.
Born in a business family of Saharanpur, Divyam was inspired to play badminton by his father, and tried his hand at many sports like cricket, hockey, table tennis, swimming etc. He took badminton seriously at the age of just 10.
“I tried many sports in childhood, but I always kept an eye on my father’s love for badminton. When I got a chance to play badminton, I felt that it was the right sport for me.”
His childhood coach and former international shuttler Akash Tomar, who trained Divyam for three years at a private academy in Noida till 2018, said that the young shuttler has the potential to win medals for India at the world level, including the Olympics, in future, and for that he always needed a quality coach and quality partners.
“In fact, I suggested he leave Uttar Pradesh as we don’t have quality coaches as well quality training partners. If you practise against quality players, only then you improve your game. That’s the case with Divyam, who has been doing well since shifting base to Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad,” said Tomar.
The upcoming World Junior Championship isn’t the first international event for Divyam, the fourth-ranked Indian. Last year, he finished on top in the mixed doubles event at the Under-19 India Junior International Grand Prix. Besides, he represented India at the Under-17 ABC at Thailand, Dutch Junior Open in The Netherlands, German Junior Open in Berlin and Badminton Asian Junior Championship in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
“It’s my maiden World Junior Championship, and I would like to make it memorable with a podium finish. I am training hard and will leave no stone unturned to make it happen,” said Divyam, who has won titles in almost every age group category in the state championship.
