How Arvind Bhat became Indian badminton’s most unconventional champion

Arvind Bhatt German Open
Arvind on the finals day of the German Open

On 2 March 2014 a tall man with curly hair, lean but strong, walked into the RWE-Sporthalle in Mulheim, Germany. He wore a t-shirt that read “Bhat”, with “India” printed right below it. Arvind Bhat, at 34, was the oldest men's singles player in the tournament as well as in the Indian team. The lanky yet determined Indian had entered the finals of the German Open Grand Prix Gold.

It was drizzling on the evening he stepped on the court. The match was scheduled at around nine in the night. He had followed his routine perfectly that day. Being a regular practitioner of the Sudarshan Kriya and Pranayam, he knew the importance of focusing on his breath. He was constantly keeping a tab on the intake of his breath and the speed at which he was letting it out.

Arvind that day had not talked much to anyone. There was no discussion about the strategy to play Hans Vittinghus from Denmark, a player who has one of the best defences in the circuit. The Indian shuttler had decided to rely solely on his instincts. The same instincts that almost 12 years ago guided him to take up badminton professionally and choose a path less traveled, especially since he already had an engineering degree in his hands.

Before I get to the German Open and Arvind's historic win, it is crucial for me to talk about his journey. It is a journey that is nothing short of fascinating. The journey is always more interesting than the destination; the destination never teaches us anything, but it is the path that has all the lessons.

Nothing about Arvind's badminton career is conventional. If you ask every top player in India today when they started playing serious badminton, the average answer would be anything between 10 to 13 years. If you ask the same question to Arvind his answer would be 22. Yes, 22!

Arvind had almost quit badminton as he was pursuing an engineering degree. He did engineering like any other conventional student, regularly went to college and attended the majority of classes. He would play badminton as a hobby three times a week whilst also doing odd jobs for money to cover his expenses.

His main objective at the age 18-22 was not trying to hit the shuttle on the lines but making money to support himself. Destiny, however, had other plans. The then 22-year-old boy got his first sign from the universe when he got a break to represent the Indian team by reaching the final of the National Championships in 2002. With Pullela Gopichand winning the All England Championship, Arvind’s eyes glistened with hope.

Whilst most professional players start weight training at the age of 14, Arvind was 8 years late. He did his first running and weight training session that year. And it was only four years later, at the ripe age of 26, that he was introduced to the concept of diet and supplementary nutrition.

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Arvind with his professors during his college days

After joining the party pretty late compared to his contemporaries, Arvind realised there was a lot of catching up to do. But he also knew that this was what he loved and enjoyed. Whether it be the training, the hard work, the sacrifices, the wins or the losses, he took everything in stride.

However, at 22 years of age, it takes a substantial amount of bravery to completely switch your life trajectory from being an engineering student to becoming a full-time professional athlete.

Courage is a very rare thing to possess and Arvind's was put to test a number of times all through his career. In fact, injuries were a regular occurrence in his early years on the circuit; a serious injury in 2006 that needed surgery had threatened to finish his career.

Arvind marched on with just one aim in his mind – winning at least one big international event before he retired. However, by the time he reached the peak of his career, he was playing opponents at least 4-5 years younger than him. They were faster, fitter and stronger than him. But if he was ever worried about this, no one ever saw it.

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A file picture of Arvind Bhat after the ankle injury that needed a surgery in 2006

I had won my first senior national the same year Arvind won his second national title. That year in the final, he beat Parupalli Kashyap. I remember very vividly that for most of us, Arvind did not stand a chance.

Kashyap was in such great form; he seemed very hard to beat. But all of us witnessed one of the most clinical, sharp, and brutal finals we had ever seen. Arvind won the match in straight games and showed us all some of his best badminton ever.

But in the years to come, we got to know that was not his best badminton. Arvind’s best badminton came two years later in 2014. This time not just India, but the whole world took notice.

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Arvind with the Men's Singles trophy in Rohtak Senior Nationals after beating P.Kashyap in that clinical final.

A week before Arvind played the German Open, he entered an all-India event in Bangalore. He wasn't sure if he wanted to play the event at all because he was suffering from severe backache. But his physio, Muthu, gave him enough confidence and asked him to play.

The result was a second round loss to 15-year-old Siril Verma. After this result, a dispirited Arvind had almost made up his mind to withdraw from the German Open. But he knew that even if he didn't play the tournament he had to go to Germany and play his club matches the weekend before the German Open was scheduled to start.

At this point Arvind was ranked 87 in the world. That made him unsure about even making it to the main draw in the German Open. So there was nothing for him to do but wait with baited breath for the tournament schedule to come out. The draw gods were kind to him as he had made it to the main draw.

This made him make up his mind and since he was going to Germany anyway, he decided that he might as well play the tournament too. Before heading off to the event, Arvind spent one week in India doing weights, resting and meditating. In fact, he didn’t even enter the court once the week before he left for Germany.

On arriving in Germany, Arvind played two singles in the club matches where he beat two decent players in the league. These two wins were crucial to get his confidence back as in both the matches Arvind won whilst keeping his opponent’s score under 10.

Arvind had to play a higher ranked player right from the second round in the German Open. But he was not scared of playing anyone in the draw. In fact, his experience told him it was good to play top players in the beginning as they were most vulnerable at the beggining of a tourney.

He beat Hu Yun in the second round, a player who was ranked number four in the world at that time. After passing the Hu Yun test he felt anything could happen if he really focussed. More importantly, his back held up pretty well all through the match.

To his credit, the rest and treatment from the week before, which he thought would be a hindrance to perform, actually seemed to have helped him to peak.

Arvind Bhatt training
Arvind Bhat training hard

The match against Hu Yun had drained Arvind as he had to really dig deep for the win. However, it gave him the confidence of going right till the end. He also realised that he could not survive the full week if he played long matches every single round.

However, his game improved as he finished off matches in the next two rounds quite quickly (half an hour each), beating Darren Liew and Victor Axelsen in straight games. The easier matches helped him save some energy.

He felt he had luckily managed to save enough fuel to survive right till the very end. That energy did him good as Arvind played a thriller of a match in the semifinals against Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chen Chou.

Arvind had no problems in disposing of Chou in the first game after taking a 6-3 lead which he was able to maintain all throughout. Chou however meted out the same treatment to Arvind in the second game when he broke off at 6-6 and marched ahead.

But in the decider, Arvind fought till the end after Chou had stepped up his game. They battled from 6-6 to 14-14, with the lead changing hands frequently. Arvind was ahead by a point after that and even though Chou caught up at 20-20, Arvind successfully staved off the challenge in the end.

If you ask a player how exactly he won a final, it will be tough to get a precise answer. Finals are always very difficult. You are tired both mentally and physically. You are also in a ‘zone’.

Arvind had played some great matches throughout the tournament. Vittinghus on the other hand was a tough opponent; a fighter.

Arvind had a lot at stake in this final. If he won this match he would create history. He would have become one amongst 10 Grand Prix Gold or Super series winners in the history of Indian badminton. Additionally, he would become the only Indian player to have won the German Open title. Arvind would also become one of the few players in the history of modern badminton to have won a 4 star event at the age of 34.

Most importantly, he was one win away from his very own dream title. That one title that he had worked towards for the last 12 years.

However, none of this was on Arvind's mind that day. He had lost enough finals to learn his lessons from.

Arvind entered the court calm and confident. His control over his emotions working wonders, he won the first game and took the lead in the second at 17-12. That was the first and only time he thought about winning and celebrating, which soon made him lose focus and become complacent. The result was disastrous as he lost the second.

After losing his lead Arvind started to sort himself out and told himself to fight till he couldn't fight anymore. His stern belief was replicated in his execution. He ground it out and showed true grit as he fought his way to the title.

Arvind, however, remained calm after winning the title, with absolutely no outward celebration on his part. His was the movement of a saint and the court, his place of meditation.

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Arvind Bhat kissing the German Open trophy

It took almost half an hour in fact for him realise the magnitude of his win. These were some of his initial reactions.

"Initially for the first 30 minutes or so I was quite cool. Also since I had trained myself to think like a champion I behaved like one. Not too much excitement, not showing it too much. Just a cool demeanour. I had promised myself in the 3rd set the same too. No celebration if I win. But after about 30 minutes all hell broke loose. But only inside of me. I was like 'I did it!' I did what was unexpected and I did something which none of my peers had done,” he exclaimed.

He didn't stop there. “Only a handful of Indians had done this before me. Maybe about 8-10 people only. So I felt like Top 10 all time greats of Indian badminton. I felt good and proud, but all inside of me. Nothing outside. Post 2 hours I had lots of congratulatory messages from some unexpected quarters. It looked like many people in India had watched it live simply because there was a cricket match of India which India had lost against Pakistan. So the disappointed crowd were channel surfing and found my win satisfying. "

Arvind Bhatt Hong Kong
In 2006 we were in the Indian team for the Hong Kong Open. This was my first Senior Super Series event. He was my team-mate for a lot of great tournaments (from left to right): Arvind, Me, Saina Nehwal, Ajay Jayaram, P.Kashyap, Anand Pawar, P.Gopichand, Anup Sridhar.

All players have their own story. What makes Arvind's story different is that he did not start his career as a normal sportsman would. He had never played a high level of badminton till he reached the age of 22. He didn't have any wins at the junior level to build his faith on.

There are struggles, challenges, sacrifices, frustrations, injuries in every player's life, and Arvind had to face it all after 22 years of age. Being a champion is not age-bound. He always found a way to get past everything and get to his dreams. It took him close to 12 years to realise his goal but he never lost sight of the goal till he finally achieved it.

Arvind's journey teaches us a lot of lessons. Lessons about belief, about fighting society's norms regarding age and careers, about making your own rules and sticking to them, about patience, about perseverance, about fighting the battle within and keeping the demons in check.

Arvind announced his retirement recently, knowing he had fulfilled his destiny, and with no regrets. His German Open win will always remain an inspiration. Arvind Bhat is etched in history with the stars of Indian badminton where he will always very rightly belong.

You can read more of Aditi Ajay Mutatkar’s writings here.

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Edited by Staff Editor