Little Kanika dreams big

Seeded first in both the under-13 and under-15 categories in singles and doubles,Kanika could have succumbed to the pressures of performing to those wild expectations that such a seeding puts on a 12-year-old. But that’s where she stands apart,once again. On Tuesday,Kanika bagged all four titles.

In a spectacular show for any age group,she claimed twin singles titles,defeating Bhavya Rishi 21-6,21-18 in U-13 and Akanshi Baliyan 21-13 21-11 in U-15. Bhavya was at the receiving end in the U-13 and U-15 doubles finals too,as Kanika,with Khushboo Chaudhary in tow,pocketed every title in sight in her dual age categories.

It wasn’t just Kanika’s winning ways that stood out. While girls her age learn how to play the game,Kanika was busy displaying strategies and tactics that few players can think of before taking up the sport professionally. Playing in the U-15 singles final,Kanika stopped proceedings against second seed Baliyan,three years her senior,objecting to the use of the existing heavy shuttle. This despite being in the lead by a margin of five points in the first game.

The move puzzled her opponent,and a lighter shuttle helped the younger player control the game and the opponent even further. According to Kanika,the five-point lead could have been surrendered,but with a shuttle more suited to her play,it ballooned to the end result of eight. “At last,I am enjoying my run in this tournament. Last year,I was a bit rusty but I think now I am playing really well,” she says shyly.

Really well,of course,is an understatement for the Delhi girl. But due credit must go to Pullela Gopichand,and the scouts from his eponymously named academy in Hyderabad,for spotting this talent early — at about the same time last year during the All-India rankings tournament — and forcing her to shift base to the Andhra Pradesh city. Kanika booked her tickets to Hyderabad,and her game,and life,changed as she had known it.

“Initially,when I had gone to Gopi sir’s Academy,I couldn’t meet him for a long time because I was put into a batch that had an odd timing. But after I performed well and assured them improvement,it was then he started conversing with me,” she added.

And ‘Gopi sir’ has plenty to be proud about. Not only did she win the Delhi State,but several more titles in Bangalore and Indore leading into her conquests in the city of her birth.

In Bangalore,at the All-India rankings in July,Kanika won the U-13 singles,while also finishing runners-up in the doubles. But in Indore,she proved she wasn’t one-dimensional and finished winner and finalist in reverse order. Doubles win,RU in singles. Gopichand was not there,but must have worn a gratified smile as the news trickled in.

“Actually I wanted to surprise him with my achievements,” Kanika says,reverting back to a 12-year old’s innocence. “But by now he must have heard. I am sure he will be delighted. It has been more than two months since I am travelling and haven’t had a word with Gopi sir.”

It’s almost impossible to imagine that this is the same girl who struggled with her on-court movement and caved under the weight of heavy rallies just a year ago. But Hyderabad and the sir in question have changed all that.

“I can feel the change. I can see myself pushing hard at times and not faltering. In Hyderabad,we do a lot of multi-shuttle training,which takes average fitness to a professionally high level,” says Kanika,an eighth standard student who returns to ASN Senior Secondary School in the capital only to give her yearly exams.

While school and its yawning seminars have been left behind on a daily basis,Kanika cannot wait to return to the show-and-tell sermons in Gachibowli — Gopichand’s academy. It is here that she watches and learns from the likes of Jwala and Ponnappa didis,and Kashyap bhai. “Because we’re little girls,they allow us to watch them. One day I want to be like them,” she says.

At least in this ambition,Kanika,12,has age on her side.