Taslim Mir clinched the girls’ U-17 badminton title at the Khelo India Youth Games 2019. The 13-year-old kept her rival, Manasi Singh, chasing the bird across court, and scored points with half-smashes and drops for a 23-21, 21-16 win at the Balewadi stadium.
Gujarat’s medal tally went up due to Taslim’s slick movement and controlled strokeplay. KIYC almost seemed child’s play for the 13-year-old.
Taslim’s journey began when her father, Irfan Mir, introduced her to the sport in Mehsana’s Police Club and her talent opened many doors.
A victory over P. Gopi Chand Academy’s Mehgana Reddy at the Nationals in 2016 led an interest in training further at the Hyderabad academy. With her parents’ backing, she began work.
Mention of the third season of the PBL brings a sparkle into her eye — touring with Ahmedabad Smash Masters’ and World No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying.
“I like Tai Tzu because she is different from other leading players at deception. Language is a problem, so we learn by watching her prepare and, of course, in matches,” said the ninth-standard student from Shree Sarvajanik Vidyalaya, Mehsana.
Taslim, who lives in Hyderabad with her mother, gets permission from the Gopi Chand Academy to travel to Gujarat for exams and to catch up with her father (a policeman) and nine-year-old brother, who also plays badminton.
The sport has taken her to Mandalay (Myanmar) as part of the Indian squad for the Badminton Asia junior championships. She partnered Meghana to return with the U-15 doubles gold.
PBL season four does not have juniors touring with squads. So the Pune trip is a breather before badminton classes resume in Gachibowli.
“Eight hours of training over two sessions, and rest in the afternoon and at night,” she says of her routine. “I get to train with different types of players, the experience has improved my game and made me confident on court.”
The results (all finals): Girls: U-15: Taslim Mir (Guj) bt Manasi Singh (UP) 23-21, 21-16. Doubles: Aarya Deshpande & Ananya Shirke (Mah) bt Sakshi Asrani & Anushka Mehta (Raj) 21-16, 21-13.
U-21: Aakarshi Kashyap (Chd) bt Malvika Bansod (Mah) 21-11, 21-16.
Boys: U-17: Gandham Rao (TS) bt Ravi (Har) 15-21, 21-18, 21-11. Doubles: Nikunj Pandey & Shubham Patel (Raj) bt C.S. Koushtik & R. Vikash Prabhu (TN) 21-15, 22-20.
U-21: Sanjay Aman (Mah) bt Rahul Bharadwaj (Kar) 21-17, 23-21.
