The badminton court at the Uber Cup, held in Aarhus, Denmark, witnessed a battle of epic proportions when an 18-year-old Indian player, Aditi Bhatt, went toe-to-toe with Thailand’s 25-year-old Busanan Ongbamrungphan. This was Bhatt’s fourth match at the senior level. Ongbamrungphan, on the other hand, has not only ranked 13 in the world, but also recently competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Even though Bhatt finally lost out to Ongbamrungphan’s superior experience, her grit and performance impressed everyone. It also indicated that the young player from Ghaziabad, located in the outskirts of Delhi, is not only a high-rated player from our country, but also has a bright future in the sport.
“Although I was nervous at the start of the match and trailed 1-8, I got confidence from my comeback in the first game,” Bhatt remembers. “Winning the second game made me even more confident and in the third, it was really neck and neck before she increased the pace of her play and won the match.”
The Rise Of An Ace Shuttler
Bhatt picked up the racquet at the young age of seven at school. Born to Manoj Bhatt, a banker who played a bit of football, and Poonam Bhatt, a homemaker, her natural skills caught the attention of teachers, who urged her parents to enrol her at an academy for further training. Over the next four years, Bhatt improved her game and made rapid progress. In 2014, she moved to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) academy in Almora, Uttarakhand, to train under reputed coach, DK Sen. In 2018, Sen moved to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, which prompted the Bhatts to do the same.
“The support of my parents in my formative years has been crucial,” Bhatt says. “At every step, they ensured my training wasn’t affected. I wouldn’t have reached this far had it not been for their continuous encouragement and efforts.” Under Sen’s guidance, Bhatt made a mark at numerous national and international championships. At the Under-17 Asian Championships in Myanmar, she bagged the bronze medal in singles. She also won the doubles at the Dubai Junior International Tournament, 2019, and at the Bulgarian Junior International Tournament, 2019. She also won the singles and the doubles in the Under-19 category of the All India Ranking Tournament, Panchkula, 2019. By the end of 2020, Bhatt’s steady progress helped her reach the rank of number 10 in the World Junior rankings. “Playing international tournaments is really exciting because players from different countries are there and that in itself is a huge motivation,” she says. “The first time I went for an international tournament was in 2017 and although I was only selected for the doubles and not singles, which I prefer, the exposure was invaluable.”
Laying A Foundation For Achievement
Based on her incredible journey and progress, Bhatt was signed on for the Reliance Foundation Elite scholarship program in August, 2019. Besides financial support towards competition exposure and equipment, Aditi now had access to the specialist Sports Science and Medicine team at the Sir H.N. Reliance Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai. As the teenager took her first gradual steps towards the rigorous senior circuit, she could now rely on support in critical areas such as Physiotherapy, Strength & Conditioning, Nutrition and Sports Psychology. Experts helming these areas have commented on the progress Bhatt has made since.
“In January 2020, Aditi would be really nervous about who she is playing with, what age her teammates are, and would doubt herself a lot because of her age,” remembers Maithili Bhuptani the Lead Sport & Exercise Psychologist at the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre. The fact that Bhatt contracted COVID-19 during the lockdown did impact her growth and sleep patterns, but the team of experts associated with the Reliance Foundation Elite scholarship program helped her throughout. “We conducted thorough counselling with her to have her focus only on her game and training and not on other factors such as age and rankings. Before going for the Uber Cup in August 2021, Aditi called me and the first thing she said was, “My 1.5 years of training during the pandemic is literally paying off- even though I’m not as senior as the others, that doesn’t affect my game. I feel so much more confident and believe in myself now,” Bhuptani says.
With online sessions, the only way to overcome training challenges, Arvind Nigam, the Physiotherapist from the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre, focused entirely on physical therapy and strength & conditioning. Along with that, Nigam started a preventive rehabilitation program that Bhatt embraced wholeheartedly over repeated video calls. Another challenge presented itself when Bhatt suffered a severe ankle strain in February, forcing her off the training court for three weeks. Nigam’s approach again was a gradual rehab program, allowing her to return to court with no discomfort. Confident in her physical well-being, Bhatt was able to train with full intensity and earned his first call-up to the Indian senior national teams for the Sudirman and Uber Cup.
“Aditi’s functional strength and her dedication and compliance to the programs are commendable,” says Nigam. “Going forward, we need to monitor her with an effective preventive program to make her less prone to badminton related injuries.”
Besides Nigam, Bhatt’s physical well-being was also monitored by Mihira Khopkar, Lead Sports Nutritionist at the Sir H.N. Reliance Hospital and Research Centre. Unable to train and unsure of what to consume, Bhatt had gained weight during the lockdown and Khopkar’s approach to tackle the problem was to work specifically on fat loss and body composition changes. Bhatt shed the extra kilos and inches but on resumption of training, she felt fatigued. Khopkar designed a program with appropriate pre and post-training meal practices and has provided Bhatt with guidelines specific to match days, so she can sustain her levels of energy throughout the contest. “She is extremely dedicated and diligent when it comes to her routine,” says Khopkar. “In the case of nutrition, she follows the program to the T. She is always inquisitive to know how a particular intervention would help her on court.”
Dreaming Big For India
Having now graduated to the senior level after her impressive feats on the junior circuit, Bhatt is well aware the Indian badminton fraternity has identified her as among the players who can potentially win glory for the nation. The support provided by the Reliance Foundation has strengthened not only Bhatt’s game, but also her dreams for herself and her nation. Keen to follow in the footsteps of Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu, and taking inspiration from Olympic silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying, Bhatt is all set to win international glory. “I want to win an Olympic and World medal for India,” she says confidently.
Her parents are equally confident that the support she’s receiving will help her make a mark. “We are a middle class family and badminton can be an expensive sport, especially when it comes to getting exposure and sustaining training programs. The support from Reliance Foundation has played a big role in Aditi’s success as it has eased the financial burden and opened up a wide range of training support for her,” they reveal.
Bhatt’s coach, Sagar Chopra, is assured that with her natural skills the world-class training and support provided to her can indeed help her reach new heights for the game and herself. “Aditi is soft-spoken but an extremely confident individual,” says Chopra. “Her backhand is excellent, and she has one of the best drop shots among Indian players. Her smashes have also improved in the last few months. She is a bold and confident player, with a never give up attitude, who will play to her fullest when she’s on court. She needs to work on her speed and agility and improve her fitness to compete at the international level. At the Uber Cup, she played very well and it was only due to a lack of speed and endurance that she couldn’t upset Busanan. She can break into the top 100 in the next year and definitely has the potential to be ranked in the top 30.”