When it gets in the way of her badminton practice, ANMOL KHARB is not too concerned about traditional festivals; instead, she enjoys a good one-liner. She insisted on asking coach Kusum Singh why she couldn’t fit in a morning workout on Diwali, since the celebrations and fireworks take place in the evening. Additionally, she declared calmly, “I’ll protect myself,” on Rakshabandhan. I don’t require a rakhi.
But on Wednesday in Shah Alam, Malaysia, the 17-year-old who was playing India’s fifth match and third singles gave her teammates and coaches plenty of cause to erupt into boisterous cheers. At the Badminton Asia Team Championships, Anmol defeated Chinese Wu Luo Yu 22-20, 14-21, and 21-18 after they were tied at 2-2. They also managed to pull off an uncommon 3-2 team victory over China. Anmol maintained an icy cool demeanour throughout.
With Luo Yu ranked just No. 149, China had fielded a weak team, and India had already secured a quarterfinal spot. Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and P V Sindhu set the tone to overcome an always formidable Chinese unit, and Anmol made the most unlikely of decisions to reduce Luo Yu to a string of mistakes. The teenager’s strokes from the back court carried a powerful punch that echoed Sindhu’s and Saina Nehwal’s early career.
Beyond the Haryanvi determination and the short crop, the Faridabad teenager is very much a Nehwal. Firstly, the crucial part played by her mother Rajbala. “My daughter has a heroic disposition. The mother says, “She detests losing.
Father Devender Kharb, a lawyer and former kabaddi player, credits the mother for instilling all of the fearlessness and sass. “In the past, Rajbala would win races; in Haryana, competitors would run while balancing matkas, or earth pots, on their heads. Her mother, however, is courageous; after a Goa tournament, they once walked two hours on pitch-black roads to reach their hotel at one in the morning. She also keeps Anmol from ever giving up.
In order to keep Anmol hydrated throughout the day, Rajbala also makes the 80-kilometer drive each way from Faridabad to her Noida academy and prepares fruit juice, lemonade, chhaas, and lassi in bottles.
According to the father, Anmol was forced to sit on the front bench and serve as the class monitor for Class 5 by her teacher. Since then, she has to always be one step ahead of everyone, leading by example. That’s where the hostility and hate of failure originate, he claims.
Anmol was a skilled speed skater in the beginning, but due to unfair elbows and a lot of knee grazes, she lost out. She entered badminton after her older brother. He quickly left to pursue a tech degree, but Anmol’s affection for aggressive smashes and shuttle remained. She is no mug when it comes to dribbling; she still spends hours practicing 1,000 variations of her stroke from each of the four court corners. or eyeball-to-eyeball encounters.
Rajbala decided the daughter wouldn’t be bullied because of her weakness and sent her to a nearby facility run by Godara Sir, the brother of international boxer Jai Bhagwan, for “physical fitness.” It resembles commando training for sportspeople. There, they toughen them up. To continue, most kids have to be dragged out from behind nearby bushes where they hide from the rigour. Anmol initially became ill from the strain, but now that she’s training with friends, she’s at her happiest place.
She gets up at five in the morning, trains for an hour at the boxers’ den, eats breakfast, and spends the next hour and a half sleeping in the car. She’s gotten good at napping anywhere. She can turn on and off as she pleases in the car and on stairwells at competitions, according to her mother.
When playing the fifth rubber in Malaysia, Anmol hardly ever turned off. Even though she doesn’t yet have the greatest smash, her accuracy and consistency under duress were astounding for a 17-year-old. She could hear Coach Pullela Gopichand telling her that the Chinese were holding things back and that she needed to recognize the lies. She didn’t require two reminders.
Despite being cheerful and amiable, the young lady has established an intimidating presence in training, according to her Noida coach Kusum Singh, who herself was raised in an Alwar village. “If a boy falters in their sparring, she will challenge them and call them ‘naazuk.'” “Match mein dekh lungi tujhe” is what she says when someone makes fun of her. She claims not to be afraid.
Mother Rajbala and Kusum both support her bold speech and want her to be free. She talks too much, and we have to tell her to stop talking at times. But I will never ask her to hold back on her expression. She will switch feeders if she discovers one is not strong enough for sparring. I tell her not to be concerned. I’ll take care of everything; I’m here, courtside all the time,” Rajbala declares.
