When Rakshitha Ramraj and Anupama Upadhyaya walked off the court at the KD Jadhav Stadium on Wednesday, you might have thought they might have just had it in the park A friendly match rather than a battle to decide who will compete in the second round of the women’s singles India Open is a BWF World Tour 750 level event.
In the mixed area, everyone talked, laughed and took photos. A little bit of resentment is a total joke.
“I have been injured a bit in the past month because I have back pain,” complained Lakshita, who lost 17-21, 18-21. “I started playing just a week ago. My stamina was zero as I was almost completely sitting at home. I just started training for this tournament. This girl (Anupama) knows this! She knows this and also Keep running me around on the pitch! She knows it!” Rakshitha scolded her opponent in the post-match mixed zone.
“Yes, you know the court proceedings are so slow. Everyone is just playing rally (style game),” Anupama retorted.
“You know I’m hurt!” Lakshta repeated.
“I just have to do drag racing! That’s what everyone does,” Anupama said.
The goodwill between the two is palpable, and it’s not hard to see why. At 17, Lakshta is the youngest player in the women’s singles draw at the Indian Open. But Anupama was only a few years older than Anupama. The two trained together at Gopichand Academy.
Rakshatra Ramraj (left) and Anupama Upadhyaya (right) after their first-round match at the India Open. , Photo credit: Jonathan Selvaraj
Rakshatra Ramraj (left) and Anupama Upadhyaya (right) after their first-round match at the India Open. , Photo credit: Jonathan Selvaraj
“We play together, we train together. We also stay together in the academy. When we play games, we are together too. So, we always enjoy, dance, watch movies together. We even go shopping together. (On the court) We’ve played against each other many times, starting with the juniors and now we’re playing in the seniors. It’s nice to have a friend or a partner who is also going to the same academy, so it’s nice to be able to play against her,” Ah. Nupama said after the game.
The two work together at one of India’s best badminton academies as coach Preela Gopichand believes they have what it takes to solve one of Indian badminton’s biggest headaches – who will fill in for Saina Nehwal and ultimately Vacancy for PV Sindhu.
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They are not the only ones believed to have this ability. Anmol (Kharb) was part of the gold medal-winning Indian team at the 2023 Asian Team Championships, while Shreyanshi Pardeshi is also training at Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
While Lakshta has been training at Gopichand Academy for the past five years, Anupama, who hails from Almora in Uttarakhand, is a relative newcomer. She was trained at the National Center of Excellence in Guwahati and shifted to Hyderabad late last year.
“I think the problem I faced in Guwahati was that I was training mainly with teenagers. At Gopichand Academy we had players like Rakshitha, Shreyanshi, Anmol etc. Every day training was like a game. That’s how you improve every day way. I also felt that I needed a mentor and Mr. Gopi is a perfect example of that every morning. Come o’clock. He coaches us, feeds us, and constantly tells us what to do and what not to do during games, and he tells us what’s wrong when we lose. We feel that when things go wrong, everything will be fine,” Anupama said.
The girls know what’s expected of them – “Slowly, we’re all improving. We have a cohort. Now, we’re just trying to get experience playing at this level,” Anupama said.
Among the girls of Hyderabad, Rakshitha and Anupama are considered the most promising girls. Anupama won the national adult championship at the age of 18 and was previously the world’s number one junior. Both have completely different role models – Anupama loves Carolina Marin, while Lakshita is a fan of Tai Tzu Ying. Their playing styles were completely different – if Anupama crushed her opponents with her tenacious recycling abilities, then the burly Lakshita bullied her opponents with her strength and power.
The clash of styles made for an engaging contest, and despite it being the veteran who took the lead in the decisive moments of both games, both Anupama and Lakshta spoke highly of each other.
“I would say Rakshita’s smashing ability is very good. Her footwork is also really strong. There were many times when I pressed the tap and she managed to push it back. Her defense is very strong and her smashing ability is very good.” Well, her delivery in the midfield is also very deceptive,” Anupama said.
Laksita was also full of praise for her compatriots. “Anupama’s defense was extremely strong. She fought off every shuttle I hit. She just retrieved everything. That’s the worst part about her. She just wouldn’t leave any shuttle and kept shooting all my shots. lenses and return them,” she fumed.
Being in the early stages of this year and their careers, both Anupama and Rakshita have high expectations for how things will turn out. “I hope to perform well in the BWF World Tour 750 and 1000 series, win the World Tour 300 series this year and hopefully compete in the World Championships,” Lakshta said.
While Rakshitha’s ceiling is high, perhaps Anupama might start showing results sooner – if only because she develops further as a player. She has competed in the BWF World Tour 750 event at last year’s China Open and another event in Malaysia earlier this year.
“Also last year, I played my first 750 World Tour match at the China Open and won my first match against Zhang Beiwen. It really gave me a lot of motivation and I was very happy with them. are equal and have the same speed and compatibility with them. I also played against Pornpawee Chochuwong at the Malaysia Open this year (she was ranked 14th in the world). I lost in three games). I also played well in the Malaysian Open, but I had a stomachache and vomiting before the match, but I could have done better. That said, I did like how I performed in the first few games,” she said.
Anupama hopes that she will be further involved in events in the national capital. She will face another highly rated rookie – 18-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki, currently ranked 11th in the world.
It won’t be the easiest encounter for Upadhyaya, currently ranked 43rd in the world, but she knows this is the level she wants to reach. “My goal this year is to improve my game at this level so that I can regularly compete against the top 10 players in the world. Last year, I didn’t even get to play in the India Open. I just sat in the stands and watched everyone. Play. So, it’s great that I can play here now,” she said.
