When the public rendition of the national anthem happened with the whole stadium at Shah Alam, Malaysia standing up for the women’s badminton team in blue, India’s 3-2 finals success over Thailand got imprinted in public memory. It was a historic moment as India won their first-ever Asian team title, with the women having never crossed quarters before, and with three youngsters not even 21 years old, leading this charge.
As unseeded and unheralded India beat the top-three seeded teams China, Japan, and Thailand 3-2, it was Anmol Kharb, only 17 years old, Treesa Jolly, 20 and Gayatri Gopichand, 21, who won six of those nine crucial matches. The youngest member, Faridabad’s Anmol, was tested for three days playing the tie-breaking 5th rubber, and ranked 478, while playing only her second international event ever, beat players ranked far above her in each of those pressure games. Treesa-Gayatri won 3/3 of their matches against better-placed opponents, including two Top Ten pairs from Japan and Thailand.
The great Indian women’s badminton story will not suddenly stop or gradually fade out at PV Sindhu.
But well before they stepped up to the podium winning gold at the Badminton Asia Team Championships, the team assembled for private, fortifying ‘Jana Gana Mana’ huddles, before and after every team tie, as they went about building the blocks of this success. The anthem was summoned not only in time of success, but also during every step of the struggle.
Anmol, Treesa, Gayatri, Ashwini Ponappa, Tanisha Crasto and PV Sindhu are at varied junctures of their individual careers. But those team huddles daily, irrespective of their own results, helped build an insta bond which carried over onto the playing court.
Every player was also urged to take a few moments by themselves to pray to their gods or whoever they worshipped or whatever centred them in life, to help find calm before they entered the shrieking, dinning cauldron of competition. A team dinner was planned only after they won the title, taken across the tape by a calm and assured 17-year-old Anmol, ranked 478 who clinically downed Pornpicha Choeikeewong, ranked 45, with the tie in balance at 2-2.
Nobody would have blamed the teenager had she lost, but after pulling out wins against China and Japan, the team was strangely confident that India’s third singles player who not many knew of till three days ago, would safely take India home. “I was looking forward to somehow getting to the Anmol match, knowing she’ll figure it all out,” said coach Pullela Gopichand. “We all were.”
