Growing up in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, a young girl named Flora Engineer would often listen to talks of engineering from her civil engineer father, Nilay Kumar Engineer, and older sister, Grishma, who happens to be one of the few female oil rig engineers in the country. The Gujarat youngster wanted to chart her own path in sports and finally settled on playing badminton. On Wednesday, as the 17-year-old carved out a 27-25, 19-21, 21-17 win over Aroma Zahid of Delhi in the girls' singles' second qualification round in the Yonex Sunrise 30th Smt Krishna Khaitan Memorial All India Junior Ranking Prize Money tournament being organized by Express Shuttle Club Trust at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, the youngster was patted on her back by her parents, including her mother, Kumood Engineer. "While everyone in my family pursued engineering, my interest was always in sports. I would try my hand at athletics, swimming, karate as well as skating before deciding to play badminton. Once I decided to play the sport, my parents supported me with whatever they could provide, and seeing me win always brings a smile to their faces," says the youngster, speaking with The Indian Express. While the youngster started playing badminton in 2017, the Engineer family had to endure tough times prior to that. Engineer's elder brother, Rajkumar Engineer, who was pursuing automobile engineering, died in 2014 after a freak accident when he came in contact with high tension wires at Gandhinagar Railway Station. "It was a tough time for our family. I was studying in fourth grade at that time and would watch my parents cry for days. When I started playing badminton seriously in 2017, it meant that my parents' sole focus was on my training as well as traveling with me, and it helped the whole family. My elder sister now works in the Netherlands and often shares my training videos with her colleagues at the oil rig," says Flora. While she started training in Gandhinagar, the youngster had training stints in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, and Hyderabad before she shifted her base to Ahmedabad, training under coaches Nimmi Patel and Dhrumil Patel at the Akshar Sports Academy. Although she reached the main draw of the U15 and U-17 junior ranking tournaments in 2019, 2010, and 2021, the youngster played in her first junior international last year. A third-round loss in the Kotak India Junior International meant that the Gujarat youngster had her first taste of wins on the BWF junior circuit. This year, the youngster won the U-19 title in the SGFI Nationals apart from making it to the main draw in four junior national ranking tournaments. "Initially, I started training under Iqbal sir in Gandhinagar before trying training at different centers in the country. Luckily for me, a lot of my father's friends in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad supported me financially, taking the financial burden off our family. Competing in the junior international circuit gave me a lot of confidence and once I complete my 12th exams, I plan to get more exposure,” says Flora. The youngster idolises world number one An Se Young of Korea and Tai Tzu of Chinese Taepei apart from PV Sindhu. “When I am free, I watch their videos. I trained at Suchitra Academy in Hyderabad for more than six months and would watch Sindhu didi train. While I got a selfie with her, I did not get a chance to speak with her. Maybe someday I will be able to get some tips from her,” says the youngster.
