Subhankar Dey: Home is where badminton is

For a 19-year-old who ran away from home to pursue badminton, to breaking into the country’s top-ten, Subhankar Dey’s has been an impressive and unusual journey. The recent Kenya International victory hasn’t come a moment too soon for the Kolkata lad.

“It wasn’t easy,” says Subhankar about the Kenya International win late last month. “It was my first international win. I was about to lose in the second round; it was a long match. The quarterfinals and final were tough too.”

The second round win over J Adamu of Nigeria took an hour and 14 minutes, with the Indian eventually triumphing 22-20 19-21 21-14. The final against Gideon Babalola was also close, but Subhankar triumphed in straight games 21-19 21-19. The win has seen him rise to a career-best No.112 – not so bad for a 21-year-old who was ranked below 1000 last year. The rise in rankings has followed healthy performances even before the Kenya International win – he reached two finals, at Iraq and Uganda. What’s noteworthy is that Subhankar has funded his own travels internationally. Although he has a small scholarship from HPCL, he’s financially dependent on his elder sister.

Subhankar has never had it easy. Brought up by his mother and elder brother (he lost his father when he was just a year old), his interest in badminton was fostered by his sister, who would drive him one-and-a-half hours for his coaching sessions under Laltu Guha. His family was keen on him getting a regular job, and so Subhankar decided to leave Kolkata and join his sister in Thane. “I was 19; I didn’t tell my elder brother or mother. I told my elder sister, so she told me to come to Thane. When my elder brother found out, he told me not to return to Kolkata. I was ranked 18 in India at that time.”

Subhankar consulted fellow Bengal player and India international Jishnu Sanyal, who was training in Thane. Sanyal told him not to worry, and Subhankar began training with coach Srikanth Vad. “Vad sir was very helpful,” Subhankar recalls. “He didn’t charge any money for the training.”

Three months after that, Subhankar lost close matches against the gifted Sai Praneeth in the quarterfinals of tournaments in Bangalore and Chandigarh, which helped him get an HPCL scholarship. He has also acquitted himself well against some of India’s top players, with wins over the likes of Sameer Verma, Rohit Yadav and Chetan Anand. Two years ago, he relocated to Bangalore under well-known coach Tom John as there were no quality sparring partners in Thane. “I was performing well, and I thought this (Bangalore) would give me a better chance,” says Subhankar. “I talked to Tom Sir in Srinagar, and he said I could train with him. I forgot everything and just came.”

His coach Tom John believes Subhankar has the potential to be top-30 in the world. “He’s very fit and strong,” says John, who’s renowned as a hard task-master. “He’s prepared to work hard, as much as required. He’s done well so far, and has improved a lot since last year. He can be top-20 or top-30; he wants it badly. Physically, he’s okay. But he’s not a great thinker and he has to work hard for his results. He needs to improve his game at the net, and learn to play different players. Learning rally construction and developing intelligence takes time. He has to catch up a bit because he was neglected in the past.”

John believes that players from the smaller academies find it difficult to catch the eye of sponsors or potential employers. “I hope he gets a job soon,” John says. “His family is not able to support him, and that adds to the pressure.”

Subhankar’s immediate goals are to break into the world’s top-70 this year and to make the finals of All India tournaments. “In India, I have been beating Sameer Verma, Chetan Anand, Rohit Yadav… I think I have the ability to enter the top-5 in India,” he says. “We’re all working hard. I need to become strong mentally. I need to think and play.”