Hyderabad’s new shuttle wonder
13 year-old Prashi Joshi won her first national title at a badminton championship in Rohtak on Sunday
By : samyuktha k
Update: 2014-09-08 22:55 GMT
Hyderabad: Prashi Joshi from Hyderabad won an all-India Badminton Championship at Rohtak on Sunday. It is her first national level victory, but the 13-year-old’s philosophical approach to winning will surprise anyone.
“It’s not always about winning. Victory is not important, as much as playing is and enjoying the game. It is to say that the journey is better than the destination,” she says.
Seeded fourth at the 28th Sub Junior National Badminton Championship, Prashi didn’t believe in competition from a particular player. She insists, “It all depends on how you play on that day, in that moment. The thing that keeps running in my mind is, ‘Keep an eye on the shuttle’ and that’s it.” As to her other endeavours in life, she has a tagline “Just do it!”
Prashi started playing the game when she was just six. “I used to do it for fun, you know, played with my parents in the evenings. When I turned nine, I started playing in a stadium near my then residence. Then we moved to Gachibowli in 2009 and I enrolled in Gopichand Academy,” she adds with a smile “I am glad that we made this move.”
At the Academy, Prashi loves training with her “cool headed” coach. “And over the months, seeing Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu and P. Kashyap practice was such an inspiration. When I was at Rohtak, all the players were going to get autographs from them and felt like I had a special privilege to be so close to them.”
Prashi’s mother, who is a doctor, gave up practice recently so that she could travel with her daughter. Her father, Pradeep, an engineer, emphasises on how it is a collective victory. “I must say that Prashi’s school, Chirec, the teachers and her friends have been very supportive. That really counts, when you need to scale new heights,” he shares.
Her energy could make anyone doubt her schedule. Her day starts at 5.30 am, with training till 7 am, and the training again starts at 3.30 pm after school. While Prashi is sure she wants to be a ‘professional badminton player’, she excels in school. “I love physics, mathematics and even biology. Whenever I get time, I listen to music, I paint and dance,” she says.