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Ruth right on target
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Badminton V. Ruth Misha could be the home-grown national champion that the State has lacked all these years
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Photo: Murali Kumar K.
Shaping up Despite setbacks early in her career, Ruth Misha has shown a lot of promise, with her best run in the juniors and seniors coming in 2006-2007
Karnataka’s quest for a home-grown National champion in badminton ended when Anup Sridhar donned the mantle that was, long ago, worn by his mentor and badminton legend Prakash Padukone. However, the search for a women’s champion is still
on. In the talented duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Nitysa Soslae, the State has a formidable pair. But when it comes to singles, the State has never had a big winner. Aparna Popat, who made Bangalore her base was a nine-time National women’s champion, but technically she is from Mumbai. There are quite a few youngsters who show a lot of promise, and the brightest among them is V. Ruth Misha, a trainee at Tata Padukone Badminton Academy. In the past two years, she has performed exceptionally well to rank as a serious contender for the women’s crown. Though she still might not be in National champion Saina Nehwal’s class, Ruth can hold her own against contemporaries such as Aditi Mutakar, Aparna Balan, Gayathri Vartak and Sikki Reddy, who are emerging as the future stars of women’s badminton in the country..
Eighteen-year-old Ruth Misha’s triumph in the All India Junior Ranking Badminton Championship at home in September was a major milestone in her career. At the start of the tournament, not many gave her much of chance against a marauding Sikki Reddy, who was on a roll. But the gritty young lass played to her potential and held her nerve to win both her games on extra points (22-20, 22-20) to emerge as the champion.
“It was good that I started as an under dog against Sikki Reddy. It worked in a positive way and I played a free game and kept my focus,” says Ruth.
Ruth’s career in badminton had quite the unusual start. As a child she was a poor eater, and a friend of her father, Vinod Kumar, advised him to put the eight-year-old Ruth into sports, which would help build up a good appetite. But instead of hunger for food, it was her appetite for the game that grew in good measure. When she began playing junior competitions, Ruth always ended up as a losing finalist to G.M. Nischita.
“I never won against her in any under-10 singles event, and the trend continued in the under-13 section also”, recalls Ruth. A major reason for the setback early in the career was due to a frequent change in coaches and tardy training as a result. But that was till she joined Tata Padukone Academy in 2004. Since then, Ruth’s found the right mooring in the game and under the tutelage of Prakash Padukone and U. Vimal Kumar, has made rapid progress.
In 2004, she became the sub-junior national runner-up, but it was in 2006-2007 that Ruth had her best run in both junior and senior sections. She was the national junior runner-up and was a semi-finalist in the All India Senior Ranking Tournaments in Mumbai and Jamshedpur and early this season, she was a runner-up at the All India Senior Ranking Tournament at Surat. And before that, her search for a major title culminated with a title triumph in the Union Bank All India Junior Ranking Tournament in Bangalore.
In the past few years, Ruth has had a lot of overseas exposure and has played in major events such as the Phillippines Open, the Singapore Open, the Malaysian Open and the Polish Open, besides the junior and senior ABC Championships. These experiences have taught Ruth the importance of being fit. “It was bit intimidating at first, because most of the European girls were very fit and powerful. But now I’m not as much in awe and I can play my natural game,” she says.
Ruth points out that the recent wins have heightened expectations. “But I realise how important it is to keep my head down and concentrate on day-to-day performance. Yes, I do have big goals, but it is premature to spell them out now. I would rather take each day and each match as it comes,” says Ruth.
Her coaches, do have few words of advice for her. “She has to improve her backhand and her back court play. And she needs to be lot more consistent,” says Vimal. Prakash also wants her to be more consistent.
“Speed and fitness are her strengths, but I feel she should develop a more powerful smash and work on her consistency. She can be brilliant in patches; but she is erratic at times, losing a handful of points in a row, which can be counter productive given the current format of the game. That needs to be addressed properly,” says Prakash.
All these hitches are not insurmountable and given the grit and determination that Ruth displays on the court, she can surely iron out these flaws and make a big mark on the game.
KALYAN ASHOK
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