Wonder girl Saina Nehwal’s exploits have given upcoming youngsters a great level of confidence. Her state-mate Sikki Reddy is the perfect example. At 15, Sikki has already become a usual suspect when it comes to causing upsets at women’s events. She demonstrated this in ample measure when she caused a ripple early on in the ongoing Tata Open here, decimating second seed Aparna Balan.“Saina has shown us that if we just ignore the reputation of the opponent and stick to our basics, we can humble anyone irrespective of their credentials,” says the student of the P Gopichand, who is also Saina’s coach. “Sikki has great potential,” admits Gopi. “She just needs to hang in there and keep fighting. She can be as good as Saina if she remains consistent,” the coach observes.Sikki has already made her mark at the national level. She was a runner-up in both the singles and doubles categories in the under-19 nationals. Bettering that, she won both the singles and doubles titles in the sub-junior (U-16) group. But her flight was cut short in the last-eight round here, when she lost to Petroleum’s BR Meenakshi. But this event, with most of the top players across the country in the fray, will serve as a great preparatory round ahead of the upcoming Youth Commonwealth Games in September and the World Junior Games in November. Sikki had travelled to Jakarta for a 40-day training recently for just these two events. “12 of us had goner to train with Hendry Saputra,” she informs. “Saputra put more emphasis on court coverage and also on defensive techniques,” she says.Sikki’s love for the game blossomed when she had a two-month summer camp under Goverdhan Reddy in 2002. “We were told the winner in the tournament after the camp would get full-time membership at the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh’s facility. That was my drive,” recalls Sikki.
