G. Srivedya had a dream finish in mixed doubles, with partner T. Hema Nagendra Babu, in the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship in Lucknow. The duo finished as runner-up.
The 19-year-old shuttler, a trainee at the Chetan Anand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, is now eyeing more international titles; qualifying for the Olympics is one of the goals.
“The mixed doubles final appearance in Lucknow is a huge achievement for us. And I want to keep improving,” Srivedya, a second-year BBA student of Villa Marie College who started playing badminton watching her father Ram Gurazada (a software engineer), said in a chat with Sportstar on Monday.
Chetan spotted the talent and got Srivedya admitted to his academy in 2015 and insisted that she trained in both singles and doubles.
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“We (she and Nagendra) have been training and competing, besides practising in singles. Chetan sir felt this will help improve my all-round game and fitness,” said Srivedya who is also a regular in singles competitions. A quarterfinal finish at the Junior Nationals in 2019 has been her best show so far.
After the second wave of COVID-19, Srivedya had won the women’s doubles gold partnering Ishika Jaiswal (US) in Mexico International and then, she earned a silver in the El Salvador events last December.
“I believe my smashes and net game are my strong points even as I try to improve on-court movements and strengthening,” said Srivedya who is also grateful to CoresPack software firm for the financial support.
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“She is very aggressive, has all the strokes, very dedicated and hard-working. We are working on her speed which will take her game to the next level. I am sure she will make a huge impact in the international circuit soon,” said Chetan, who was a winner of the Syed Modi Open singles title earlier.
The 25-year-old Nagendra, who won quite a few national doubles titles partnering Kidambi Srikanth and others, said they were hoping for a satisfying performance but never expected it would come so soon.
“Syed Modi tournament is a great experience for sure. No doubt, the withdrawals because of the COVID-19 positive cases have had an impact but still, we had to give our best to reach the final,” the ABC and the Youth Commonwealth Games bronze medallist said.
“We hope to be a top mixed doubles pair for India in the days to come and we are confident of achieving that thanks to Chetan sir’s guidance,” he said.
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