Badminton: How Anmol Kharb, India’s precious new talent, delivered a famous Asian gold unfazed and with a smile on her face

Badminton: How Anmol Kharb, India’s precious new talent, delivered a famous Asian gold unfazed and with a smile on her face

The ‘koi nahi’ phase of Indian badminton has officially begun. Not only will you hear that northern phrase (which means, ‘it’s ok, play the next’) every time Anmol Kharb steps onto the court from the cheering squad. It will be a heady few months of watching fearless badminton played with uncluttered memories of past wins or losses, and unmuddied vision, just like the last four days in Malaysia.

India’s women’s team beat Thailand 3-2 to win their first-ever Asian Team Championship. Playing the decisive fifth rubber, Anmol struck the shuttle to risky corners and riskier lines, as if there are endless tomorrows out there. She’s 17, the tomorrows are indeed many, and she’s justified in playing like that. Coach Gopichand called it ‘innocent play’, and her 21-14, 21-9 win over Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong was unblemished.

Against China, Japan, and Thailand, she pulled India out of a 2-2 deadlock. She left shuttlers tipped by Asia’s far-flung powerhouses as their Gen next, feeling not-so-great about themselves. Choeikeewong came with a reputation of power and pace; Anmol disarmed her with patience.

Anmol was 3-6 down in the first, as the Thai was sending deep whipping smashes to her right and left. PV Sindhu had bulldozed nemesis Supanida Katethong with her power. Ashmita Chaliha slipped into becoming erratic at the first hint of Busanan Ongbamrungphan needling her into playing a long rally game, with over 60% errors into the net. Anmol had neither Sindhu’s brilliant impatience in swatting aside an opponent 21-12, 21-12, nor Ashmita’s frustrating impatience in chucking it all away.

All Anmol did after that was keep at the rally, anticipate the power hits, and take the sting out of the shuttle with pokes and pushes to midcourt in such a way that Choeikeewong was starved of any pace. It wasn’t defensive badminton by any measure, Anmol’s every return sought to draw out an error. The Thai fell into the ensnare.

Anmol practices pin-point accuracy for every 2 sq ft patch on the court in simulations at her Noida academy. They have sessions where shuttles are lobbed at the lines and she decides which ones to leave and which to pack away. At 8-8 was one such leave. Because of her fine court coverage, Choeikeewong started going cross, with wild wide errors off the racquethead; a pacy, power game unable to restrain itself.

The Thai’s coach Kim Ji Hyun is always animated and she told Choeikeewong to go fast-fast-fast and send the shuttle high. Anmol merely chuckled, retrieved the pacy zingers, and preyed on the Thai’s patience, as she inevitably dumped it into the net. From 14-11, Anmol was efficient – no over-hitting at the net, no extra aggression on the smash. By 19-14, Choeikeewong was in one right state.

Ranked 472, and her opponent at 45, Anmol had nothing to lose. She made that free spirit count. Because the Thai was in a hurry to make something happen, to bury the shuttle into the floor with a kill smash and to get a chokehold over Anmol, for she was expected to, Choeikeewong piled up the errors.

Adrenaline, fist pumps and cannon-balling shoulder are all very well, but the Indian remained unfazed, playing her version of badminton where you neither engage at the frontcourt, nor dictate from the back, just play deceptive shuttles to midcourt, and draw out one error after the next.

Every other shuttler in the historic first finals tie for both countries had a reputation to guard. Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand are already expected to be good enough to cause upsets over Top 10 players at 20. They did well to come through the wringer with Treesa immense on the forecourt, and Gayatri falling back to pull strings from there. Anmol simply did the un-young thing of keeping calm and playing a steady game, going from 11-5 to 17-6, never being rushed or drawn into a repartee.

By 19-7, she knew she was winning. In the last four days, HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth all reached the dreary 19-mark, some after valiant fights, and didn’t manage to convert from there. At 19, something got into Anmol as well. Her smashes clearly lack strength, but she committed to one dunk, then a second, and then a third, as the Thai retrieved all. On the fourth, Choeikeewong’s lift unfailingly went wide.

On match point at 20-9, Anmol paused to break into the most teeny smiles, excited about the win that was seconds away. Though her coach Kusumm Singh has lectured her oftentimes that she can’t smile till she reaches 21, Anmol stole a grin for herself. Choeikeewong just didn’t have enough in her to wipe that smile away, and the Indians poured out to celebrate.

No one is in doubt that life is going to get tough with myriad pressures and a fair few plummets for Anmol in the days ahead. Fame, fandom, and finances will all get cloying, and this free-spiritedness will vamooze away. But on the day India won the Asia team gold, the world watched a carefree version of badminton, and today’s glee was enough, to not worry about tomorrow’s mayhem.

It was like Jane explained to Wendy in Peter Pan: “Why can’t you fly now, mother?” “Because I am grown up, dearest. When people grow up they forget the way.”

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