Considering the fact that Harshvardhan Bisht and Bhaskar Chakrabarty have swept all the local under-16 doubles titles this year, reaching the sub-junior (u-16) national quarter-finals last week was hardly surprising. The pair ensured Delhi’s representation in the last eight of doubles at the sub-junior national event after a time gap of almost a decade.The pair lost to Prahas and Venkatesh, the national champions, but the 20-22, 21-16 and 12-21 verdict is suggestive of a fighting finish. In fact in the first game, as Harshvardhan remembers, they were leading 18-16 when his partner misjudged an out-ball. “We were leading 18-16 and it could have been 19-16. Bhaskar didn’t realise that the shuttle was flying away and he touched it. From there we lost the game,” says Bisht.Temperament mattersAs it turned out, they won the second game comfortably and lost the next in similar fashion. The only difference between the pairs, coach Malvinder Dhillon could find, was in the temperament. “The exposure and maturity were the differences. Otherwise, it could’ve gone any way. Their inexperience was also a factor. But I’m extremely satisfied, such an achievement has come after almost 9-10 years. There’s definitely a bright future for Harshvardhan in doubles,” says Dhillon. Bisht himself has done some analysis. “They were too sharp, powerful with the smashes, strong in the defence and better in overall co-ordination. They had a 100 per cent service record and extremely effective with the short service that sets up a smash,” says Bisht. Now, their coach has different plans for the two, with Bhaskar already making an impact on the singles circuit in addition to his exploits with Bisht in doubles.“I personally feel Robby (Harshvardhan) should concentrate on doubles. We’ve many promising players in the singles section, but Delhi has not seen such a doubles pair for a long time. Similarly, Bhaskar, being a strong singles pair should give more time to the individual game. Robby understands the doubles game better. The players playing singles aren’t that interested in doubles. But these two have been outstanding,” says Dhillon.
