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Young Indian badminton shuttler Anupama Upadhyaya is focused on improving her world rankings after clinching the National Games title recently in Goa. The Haryana shuttler got the better of Uttarakhand’s Aditi Bhatt in straight games to extend her domination in the domestic circuit.
The World No. 86 added her second national title just eight months after lifting the senior National Championships in Pune. She became the first girl from Haryana’s Panchkula district to lift the national trophy.
Despite her rise at the national level, the youngster won’t prioritize the race to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, whose window shuts in the next six months. She will instead put in relentless effort to improve her rankings on the global stage and eye the next edition - the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda in a video interaction, the 18-year-old said:
“Nothing is impossible but I don’t think I am keeping my eyes on Paris but on Los Angeles in 2028. Because 2024 I don’t think I can break into there (top 60) because Sindhu is already there.
"That is quite impossible for me. I don’t have that much time also. Soon in March only they will close the qualification window (April 30, 2024). My target is only to break into top 50 by next year."
Anupama has played four tournaments in a row since making her debut at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. She only participated in the women’s team event, where India lost to Thailand in the quarterfinals.
Anupama then participated in the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Bareilly earlier this month. Following her success at the National Games, the youngster went to Bengaluru to participate in the Infosys Foundation India International Challenge, where she went down to Tara Shah in the Round of 16 in straight sets.
She would have featured in a fifth tournament this season had the Haryana Badminton Association (HBA) not missed out on entering her name for the upcoming Chhattisgarh International Challenge scheduled between October 31 and November 5 in Raipur.
Anupama, however, will take it as a break to keep herself fresh for the remaining international tournaments of the year like the Bahrain International Challenge (November 14-19) and Syed Modi International (November 28 - December 3).
“Yeah, basically they (HBA) missed my entry. That's why I'm not playing Raipur. And I think it's good for me because I'll get a break. I've been continuously playing a lot of tournaments and haven’t got a break. I have 20 days to prepare for the Bahrain International. So I will get a good break and I'm prepared for Bahrain and then I'll play the other international tournaments,” Anupama said on managing her workload.
“Whatever happens I just take it easily only and its not a big deal for me. Because I think even though if they had got my entry in the Raipur, I would have not played that much also. So focusing on breaking into the top 50,” she added.
Anupama Upadhyaya credits PV Sindhu for the upliftment of the Indian badminton ecosystem
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) inaugurated the National Center of Excellence in August this year in Guwahati. The facility includes 16 courts, a 4,000 square feet gymnasium and a 60-bed hostel for players. Anupama Upadhyaya has been one of the regular trainees at the national academy in a bid to hone her skills.
In June this year, around 2000 aspiring players turned up for the All India sub-junior ranking tournaments for both boys and girls in the U-15 and U-17 categories across three venues in Uttar Pradesh.
In January 2021, six Indian players were ranked in the top 10 of the BWF junior rankings. Anupama Upadhyaya wasn’t on that list but surged past this setback to attain the junior World No.1 spot at the age of 17 in September last year. The youngster from Almora in Uttarakhand credits the current robust badminton ecosystem in the country to two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu.
"I think because of Sindhu Didi, when she got the bronze medal recently at the Olympics, I think that has really helped already in the bank. If you see there are a lot of entries whenever you play the ranking tournament, even if you are in juniors, sub-junior or senior categories," Anupama credited PV Sindhu for changing the dimension of Indian badminton ecosystem.
"All the junior players now are playing senior only because when you see that the qualifying draw with 256 draws, it's such a big draw. And I think that the qualifying round is only like one tournament for them," she added.
The former Junior World No.1 pointed out that Badminton is just second to cricket when it comes to catching the attention of sports fanatics across the country. She mentioned the recent success of junior players like Tanvi Sharma (silver in Badminton Asia U17 Junior Championships) and Ayush Shetty (BWF World Junior Championships 2023).
“I think it's (badminton) the second most (watched) after cricket. I think people are watching badminton only, so I think it's already increasing and there are a lot of promising players now, not only me. Recently, Tanvi Sharma won the silver medal at the ABC. So that is also a good achievement for her. And now we are performing well at the world juniors and all,” she said.
“Ayush Shetty recently won the bronze medal at the world juniors. So I think already we are performing well at the junior level as well as at the senior level. So I think it's already in the Indian badminton ecosystem,” she added.
Anupama also believes that government schemes like Target Olympic Podium (TOP) and Khelo India have paved the way for budding athletes to participate in international events.
"You need to trust your sports psychologist" - Anupama Upadhyaya
Anupama feels she has considerably improved in her tactical game but still needs to develop her strength and endurance. She often uses Therabands to strengthen her shoulders and forearms which helps in generating searing smashes.
The Indian shuttler has worked with sports nutritionist Mitali Ambekar at the Reliance Foundation, particularly on her diet, which helped the 18-year-old gain muscle mass and eventually weight. The diet is customized with every new tournament around the corner.
Anupama joined the Reliance Foundation in May after the completion of the Sudirman Cup. Since then she has been working with various specialists who can understand the daily troubles of athletes on and off the court.
Physiotherapist Shruti Gharat played a major role in mitigating her back pain during the Infosys India Challenge tournament. In sports psychologist Jaini Nandu, the player finds that comfort zone to subdue pressure ahead of big matches.
“I think first of all, first thing is that when you go to a sports psychologist, you need to trust him or her that, yeah, she won't tell these things to any other person or anyone. You need to trust her. You need to follow her, whatever she tells you, or you need to share your outcome as well. And I think I have really done really well with the Jaini ma'am,” Anupama emphasized the importance of a sports psychologist for a young player.
“I think that's why I think it has really helped me during the game and before the game as well. Because when you play some top player, maybe a player who is equal to you and you've been playing with him or her for a long time and you haven't been playing close matches with her. So then you have that mentally to prepare yourself for that match,” she further said.
Anupama will next be in action at the Bahrain International 2023, starting on November 14. Anupama's father Naveen is a former cricketer, who influenced her daughter to take up sports as a professional challenge from a young age.
