Three cheers for teen shuttler Naishaa!

Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye poses with her trophies at the Cricket Club of India on Saturday. Pic/Naishaa’s Personal Collection

Shuttler Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye, 16, was unable to give her 100 per cent due to a niggle on her right knee, but won three titles in the Sportzfirst-CCI & GMBA Yonex Sunrise District Badminton Championship recently

Naishaa, who bagged five titles in the last edition, won the girls U-17, girls U-19 and women's singles title at the Cricket Club of India badminton courts. Meanwhile, in the women's doubles, Naishaa and Samiaa Shah claimed silver after losing to Hrissha Dubey and Taarini Suri 21-23, 21-13, 21-7.

In the U-19 final on Friday, top seed Naishaa defeated second seed Riya Vinherkar 21-14, 21-14. In the U-17 final, she was declared the winner as her rival Riya sprained her ankle during the warm-up and conceded the match. Later, in the women's singles final, Naishaa comfortably defeated second seed Shivani Herlekar 21-6, 21-3.

Talking about having to play with pain, Naishaa told www.mid-day.com: "I can't afford to skip the district tournament as it is mandatory to play both the events [district and the inter-district]. I have had the niggle on my knee since I won a silver at the FZ Forza Bulgarian Junior U-19 International [May 13-16]. Also, I need to play tournaments to maintain national and international rankings. The pain got worse only after the start of the district tournament. I had to tape my knee and ice it at regular intervals. I stopped myself from hitting harder, was not jumping and smashing and took it lightly. Thankfully, I managed to win three titles. And though I am not a doubles player, we managed a silver."

Naishaa could participate in only four categories due to a rule change. "Unfortunately, I was unable to play in five categories due to a rule change. Personally, I get a lot of match experience and it is somewhat exciting to win so many finals. I am not sure about the reason behind the rule change, but we cannot help it," remarked Naishaa, who trains at the Bombay Gymkhana and at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy (PGBA) in Hyderabad.