Shuttler Malvika Bansod enjoys best of both worlds

Shuttler Malvika Bansod after her recent win at the RSL Lithuanian International badminton tournament in Kaunas (Lithuania). Pic/BAI

India's teen shuttler Malvika Bansod believes in striking the right balance between studies and professional sport.

Bansod, 19, who recently won the RSL Lithuanian International badminton tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania, attributed technology to her success on both fronts.
Bansod, a first-year BE (Computer Science) student at SRM University in Chennai, said: "It's very easy for me to just focus on the game and education. And technology...well, I somehow get the best of both and enjoy it a lot. My college has given me permission to go there only to give my exams and the rest, I do online. Basically, I have always felt that badminton and technology, if applied together, can yield wonderful results. It felt good to get 92.5 per cent in my Class 12 board exams [in 2020] while I was playing around 15 tournaments in that particular year," Bansod, told www.mid-day.com.

Last Sunday, Bansod defeated Rachael Darragh of Ireland 21-14, 21-11 to clinch the women's singles crown. Seeded third, she got the better of the fourth seed in the summit clash that lasted just 29 minutes. Bansod, who reached the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open last month, defeated France's Anna Tatranova 21-13, 21-10 in the semi-finals at Kaunas.

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En route to her title triumph there, Bansod defeated local player Vilte Paulauskaite 21-6, 21-10 in the opening round before crushing Heli Neiman of Israel 21-10, 21-11. She then saw off Austrian Katrin Neudolt 21-12, 21-9 in the quarter-finals.

Talking about her recent win, the Nagpur-based shuttler, who trains at the Police Parade ground badminton academy in Raipur under the watchful eyes of junior chief national coach, Sanjay Mishra, said: "I am very happy to have won my second senior international tournament this year and the fourth one of my career. I'm satisfied with my performance."

Bansod stressed that it isn't easy to participate in tournaments during the Covid-19 pandemic. "The experience of playing tournaments in the pandemic has been a very tough one. Repeated RT-PCR tests at airports and the playing venues have added to the difficulties. But one has to get accustomed to the changing environment. Also, for many days, the [training] sessions were not the usual ones as the courts were only available for short durations due to COVID-19 restrictions. But my coach took a lot of efforts to help me train well under those conditions," remarked Bansod, whose grandfather Dipak inspired her to play the sport.

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