Rakshitha Sree, the shuttler beating India’s next big things

The 61-minute 18-21, 21-19, 21-18 battle wasn’t devoid of a psychological edge. Tanvi, playing her 8th match in two weeks, actually played better than she has against Rakshitha before. The Taipei Super300 winner took the opener from 8-13 down. And she did well to get into striking range, raising the ante from 13-15 down in the second to leading 17-16. But Rakshitha has that knack to impose her effortless stroke-making on a cliffhanging match. She played the decisive rallies better to tease out an escape and push a decider.

In the third, once again, Tanvi’s errors into the net – unforced but not entirely unprovoked – gave Rakshitha the 4-point surge to break the 15-all deadlock and race to the win. “I’m not concerned about Rakshitha’s win-losses in terms of her game. The game is there,” Sai Praneeth says, “what needs to get better is the body language when she is trailing.” The coach was happy with how she dealt with being behind in points against Japanese Manami Suizu on Thursday, and how she navigated the tricky, nervy endgame phase against Tanvi.

“She needs that one big tournament with a title for her confidence. Maybe this is the week. The potential is enormous,” coach B Sai Praneeth said, after she defeated last week’s champion Tanvi Sharma at the Super 300 Korea Masters quarters. (PTI)

“All these players are very young at 18/19. When they don’t get points on court, they get nervous, body language at a crucial level stoops. It will come with experience, even for Tanvi. I just tell Rakshitha to play simple. It’s easy for a coach to constantly say, but it’s tough for players,” he says of all the previous times Rakshitha hasn’t converted and fallen behind in the Indian race. “I just tell her, ‘be ready’ for the next point. 2/3 mistakes happen, it’s ok, not the end of the world. She has good strokes and power, decent speed. Tanvi’s negatives also came from pressure. Happens,” he explains.

Rakshitha has evolved into a player with an eclectic smash. It’s a power-hit, smoothly executed with deceptive menace. Coaches have consistently drilled into her the need to stay aggressive, something that doesn’t come easy to her. In comical precedent, Rakshitha would smash the shuttle, burying it in the court, turn around, and let out a belated, lame shriek prompted by the coaches. “I forget to yell sometimes,” she had once said.

Sai Praneeth understands and relates to the confidence deficit. “When she’s playing well, she has aggression. But if trailing, her irritation with the court drift would show on her face. So we are changing that. Every player gets annoyed; the trick is to not show it. I learnt late too,” he recalls with a laugh about transparent Indian faces giving away their dismay. “She needs to otherwise she will lose the next 2-3 points!” he says.

9 Indian women find themselves in the Top 52, besides PV Sindhu, to make up one-fifth of the top tier. Their average age is 19. It’s meant Rakshitha has had to patiently watch teammates like Sharma hit the headlines, while she hasn’t made a deeper run yet, despite being rated high by coaches and beating peers in matchups.

Rakshitha will play the semis against compatriot Ashmita Chaliha on Saturday. (Express Photo)

“It’s obvious she has felt disappointed with herself when you see others go on to win. It’s not about envying them but wondering why she isn’t getting wins. When Srikanth won, we would all wonder too, and that helped us raise our game. So, it’s good Tanvi, Unnati do well so Rakshitha ups her game too,” the coach says.

Rakshitha took a big call to move to Hyderabad for training, and her mother and sister shifted too. The talent was evident, but the temperament has taken time. Saturday semis will see two attacking Indians have a go, with Ashmita’s fine win over top seed Hina Akechi, another come-from-behind 20-22, 21-15, 21-19 win, where coach Park Tae Sang was in a state after she almost blew up a 18-11 lead in the decider.

Coaches for All-India matches

Ashmita vs Rakshitha was to be a Round 1 match, but two seeded pullouts shuffled the draw a day before the Korea Masters began. Since Rakshitha is not on the national team yet due to her lower ranking, Indian national coaches are permitted to sit for All-India matches – so Sai Praneeth and Park fetched up (for Tanvi), though they were absent when Shriyanshi Valishetty played Tanvi. Against Ashmita, it’ll once more be a battle of nerves, but also two of Indian badminton’s best smashing swerves.