For former World junior No.1, A.S.S. Siril Varma, the men’s singles title-triumph in the recent all-India senior ranking badminton championship in Kozhikode last week-end could not have come at a better time.
The 19-year-old shuttler felt it was a much-needed win and said he owed everything in badminton to the chief National coach, P. Gopi Chand. “Because of exams [he is studying B. Com second year in Gitam, Vizag], I had to stay away from the circuit for a while. Now, since it is made mandatory to play in these tournaments to be considered for selection for international tournaments, I will be playing in more such events,” Siril told The Hindu .
For someone who was staring at a dead-end in his career after being accused of age fraud (only to be cleared later by the AIMS medical team) before going to reach the World juniors final in 2016 (only the second Indian then after Saina Nehwal to do so), Siril is now determined to make it big in the seniors circuit.
What can be the biggest challenge? “Fortunately, the kind of training I get from Gopi Sir and the other Korean coaches at Gopi Academy should help me a long way in realising my goal to break into top 30 in men’s singles in BWF rankings this year,” he says.
The former Asian u-15 champion is confidence personified insisting that he will give more than 100% as there are no injury worries.
Siril, who is still disappointed at narrowly missing out on a chance to make it to the last Asian Games, is grateful to the Olympic Gold Quest for supporting him.
“The only way I can keep improving is to play as many international events as possible and be consistent,” says the young talent, who was a member of the North-Eastern Warriors in PBL where Saina was among his most teammates.
“I feel with the title-drought ending, I can only dream big now,” he signed off.
