When Mugdha appeared for a paper after a long travel
| Date :15-May-2020 |
City shuttler Mugdha Agrey (2L) with father Nitin, who is a Superintendent with the GST, mother Dr Bhavana and younger sister Mrunmayee.
By Anupam Soni :
AMONG India’s top singles badminton players, Mugdha Agrey had covered a large distance overnight from Valsad to Nagpur and appeared for her first paper of class 12th. The city lass left Valsad late in night with her mother and after some ten hours was writing her 12th English paper in Nagpur. “There is an interesting story regarding her 12th English paper.
Mugdha and I were in Valsad for a national tournament. We left Valsad at about 11 in night for Mumbai by sleeper coach (bus) and reached there by 3-3.30 am. We took another bus for airport and then took 5.30 am flight for Nagpur. After alighting at about 7.15 am, she went for her English paper at 9.30 am and that was her first paper,” recalled her mother Dr Bhavana, who is a qualified homeopathy doctor (Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery), while interacting with ‘The Hitavada’. Always a top student, Mugdha is presently pursuing BA (final semester) at LAD College. “As a child she was very calm and was very good at studies. She even received state scholarship in class 4th. She passed tenth and twelfth with 92 and 82 per cent marks respectively.
She has very good concentration. She will not study for hours but whatever she studies, get into her mind. She balances her studies and sports very well. She is also very interested in reading and prefers English novels,” the mother added. The talented player has jumped 40 places in Badminton Association of India (BAI) rankings in just three tournaments. “Before her last three national tournaments, she was India number 52 in women’s singles. With two semi-finals and a quarter-final appearance in the last meets at Bengaluru, Goa and Bareilly, she has climbed up to 12 in national rankings. Earlier, she used to play more international tournaments and that’s why she had a very low rankings in India.
“She is among handful of city players to be selected in the prestigious Premier Badminton League. Mugdha was part of the Pune 7 Aces team as one of the two women’s singles players,” Dr Bhavana informed. “The journey so far has been very satisfying. The international ranking is also good. Mugdha is presently ranked 82 in the BWF world rankings. For a long period of almost one year, Mugdha was the third best Indian player after PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal in world rankings. She had a career best ranking of 59 but slipped as she did not take part in international tournaments as we wanted her to be in top 12 in India to be eligible for India contention,” she added And on how it all started, Dr Bhavana said, “We used to stay in Manikgarh (in Chandrapur district) when she was young. While playing badminton with her father, she never got tired. She had a lot of energy.
When we came to Nagpur, she participated in Ganpati Festival sports activities but felt exhausted quickly. Her father was amused that how could she lose such energy in just two months. He gathered some information about badminton and admitted her at Chandu Sir’s academy in Telecom Nagar for regular practice. There was one cement court only and after a couple of months Chandu Sir told us that she was doing very well and that she must be shifted to some better place. “We got her registered with Jayendra Dhole but soon she joined Bapat Sir at the same place. When Kiran Makode Sir saw her play against Rashi Lambe, he called us and admitted Mugdha in his academy at VBA Hall in Shankar Nagar. She was with Makode sir for a long time. When we realised that she needed more personal attention, we approached Jibi Varghese and since last five years she is with him only and trains at Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur and Koradi.” Mugdha has a national title to her credit and has some brilliant performances abroad. “When she clinched her maiden All India Senior National Badminton title at Guntur in October 2017, we were all overjoyed.
After she got the better of top seed in quarters, she started believing in herself and went all the way. She has also won a silver medal in Laos, Nigeria,” Dr Bhavana told about her top achievements. Dr Bhavana, who let her daughter select sports over studies, left her job to take care of daughters. “I think she was 12 when she got into competitive badminton. She picked up very soon and decided to get into it. Initially, her father wanted her to study but I supported Mugdha and said that if she wants to play let her play. It is not necessary that only studies will make you successful...one can achieve success in sports also. I used to work at Rajura Hospital and was also a Lecturer in Chandrapur Homeopathy College but after coming to Nagpur left my job as I felt supporting children was more important,” she said. The family is confident that Mugdha will do well in the future.
“Every sportsperson dreams of being a part of Olympics. Mugdha has the talent to play at the highest level. We all hope and pray that she makes it to the quadrennial event. She is dedicated and has very good physical fitness...which is an added advantage. Presently, Mugdha has no sponsorship from anybody. If somebody comes forward to help her, she will be able to take part in more tournaments and that would definitely help her improve as a player,” Dr Bhavana concluded.