Appearances, they say are always deceptive. Not many regulars who visit Gopi Chand Academy in Gachibowli would have dreamt of such a fabulous finish in the big league when three relatively unknown faces — Kidambi Srikanth (winner of Thailand Open), Kidambi Nandagopal and K. Maneesha (mixed doubles winners in the Maldives Open) — hogged the limelight last weekend.
“We enjoyed every match and just played to our potential,” says Maneesha, who visited the academy along with the Kidambi siblings on Tuesday. This B. Com II year student from Kukatpally won her maiden international title at Maldives is a doubles specialist — having won the junior national titles partnering P. V. Sindhu besides the mixed doubles title.
The 18-year-old, who learnt her basics from Mohammad Ali in Kukatpally before joining the academy, says she is keen on improving and winning more titles. Maneesha says since she trains with Nandagopal she had a better understanding in the game.
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“Gopi sir will decide if we should as partners in mixed doubles,” she says, even as the trio dedicated their victory to their coaches and parents.
“We hope this is just the beginning,” they said.