Rohan will win medals for India, says a confident father
| Date :04-May-2020 |
(Above) City’s top shutter Rohan Gurbani (standing left) with
grandfather, parents and cousin Ashwin. (Below) With his first state
championship trophy.
By Anupam Soni :
IF INTELLIGENCE is added to the tried and tested 3D (Discipline, Dedication and Determination) recipe for excelling in sports, the outcome has to be more fruitful. The best of coaches can help one acquire skills but it is left to one’s intelligence to derive optimum result from the training using his grey cells. “Rohan plays the game intelligently. Presently, he is ranked second in India in the Under-19 age group. He might be just behind some top shuttlers in stamina and endurance as those players are from colder north-east or the Himachal regions. Rohan is working hard on building stamina and endurance and I am confident one fine day he will click.
I have seen him grow as a player and know for sure that he uses his mind along with all the skills on the court to tame opponents. He will be India’s number one player and definitely win medals for the country,” said Dr Ravi Gurbani, father of Rohan while shedding light on one of the rising badminton stars of the nation. “After winning that Under-17 national singles title, he has nothing major to show but he is performing very consistently. He does not miss even a single training session and his coaches including Vimal Kumar sir at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru, share with us that he is a very sincere and hard worker. He will definitely reap fruits of that hard work. He will bring medals for India. Being consistent is very important. Gopi (Pullela Gopichand) sir was 27 while Padukone sir was 29 when they won the All England Championships.
I am sure and confident that if Rohan remains as consistent as he is, he will win many titles,” the anaesthetist father added. Rohan’s mother Dr Sakshi is a dental surgeon who left her regular practice for over four years to see that her only child gets on with his favourite sport. “He was very disciplined right from his childhood. He was an obedient child and whatever we asked him to do, he would always listen. I have travelled much with him and have observed that my appreciation always made him perform better. He was sincere and focused. He would go to bed early and wake up all by himself by 5 am. Badminton session was used to be of one hour but he used to be there for about three hours...hopping courts. He would wall practise at home but we never asked to stop though the noise disturbed us. If a child is taking interest in sports, parents should always be supportive.
“Even today when his colleagues show little interest in yoga classes, he does not skip any session. If it is needed for badminton he is game to it. He has a very different dedication for badminton. Vimal sir sees good future in him,” the mother said. Rohan, who got 80 per cent marks in tenth and is pursuing commerce (XI), had an early stint with the famous Gopichand Academy. “We took him to Gopichand Academy for trials when he was 13. There he defeated a much elder opponent. Gopi Sir told us that he needs some corrections and asked us to leave him. He stayed there for a month. But a young Rohan got homesick and we had to return. “In Nagpur, he trained under Kiran Makode, Jayendra Dhole and finally with Ajay Dayal. In between, I took him to Robin sir for a week for some improvement in hitting smashes. After winning state titles with ease, Rohan felt that there was no competition here and that he should move out. Padukone Academy was also his choice.
Vimal sir took trials and cleared him. He is there since 2018. He got full support in endurance training and had a counsellor. He reaped the benefits of competitive environment playing with the likes of Lakshya Sen by winning the U-17 national singles title. He now stays on own at Bengaluru and travels with coaches and team-mates. He was selected by BAI in the Indian team for twin tours of Netherlands and Germany. But the tours were cancelled midway due to COVID-19. “He is getting Rs 6 lakh per annum scholarship from Reliance. Vimal sir had planned 3-4 months activity till September in Europe with the help of Reliance and Yonex. Rohan and Maisnam Meiraba Luwang (India U-19 No 1) were to play senior ranking tournaments while staying at Peter Gade Academy but corona virus ruined that all. “Vimal sir, who looks good future in him, calls regularly enquiring about fitness and training schedule.
The academy is having alternate day online yoga classes for one hour and Rohan is religiously following the fitness chart. He is missing playing on courts,” the father recalled his son’s entire journey. On Rohan’s most memorable achievement, Dr Ravi said, “He won the Under-17 national (2018) singles title and that is a huge achievement as name of winner is etched in BAI history and is life long. But I still cherish his under U-13 triumph in 2014. In the singles final of the state championship held at Ratnagiri, he beat player who was almost double his height and that was a remarkable win. He forced his rival play back and forth exhausting his stamina to emerge winner. I think it was a turning point in his career.”