I began representing my school through inter school badminton tournaments when I was in class 7th. Nothing attracted me more than holding a racket in my hand. Not a trained player then and starting as a kid I decided to pursue it as a career . I joined a summer camp to take steps towards learning my game in my town itself during vacations. Due t o lack of opportunity in my home town that was the only camp I ever attended.

          When I was progressing in my game I had to gave up the thoughts for moving to other places to get advanced in my game  due to some personal issues but I kept playing tournaments representing my school.

         I was also a professional player in Swimming & Athletics during schooling days. Being involved with such intense physical activity  maintaining fitness was never an issue for me.

Time passed by and when my game was improving , in class 10th my school team got an opportunity to play clusters (CBSE) west zones held at Nagpur,India . However , we lost the finals but were selected for the nationals to be held at  Jharkhand later that year. That was like a dream come true to me , I couldn’t have asked for more.

                   That was the time when I faced the biggest upset in my career, not on the court but on the personal side. My Parents always believed that it’s very hard to make a  career in sports in India and chances of failure is much higher that it’s success. They always motivated me to pursue a more secure career option and therefore advised me to concentrate on studies and take badminton only as a hobby or past time . Despite of my best efforts to convince them,they  did not allow me to participate in  the national tournaments . This was probably the biggest failure  and I could not come out with it for quite some time as I lost a very big opportunity . I stopped playing & lost all the hopes to take it further. I never thought I would get to play again as I had missed such a golden opportunity.

     I completed my school & high school and got admitted for the course of MBBS. Opting to become a doctor was never my cup of tea. I did not know destiny would end in such a way. Studying  medical  was also kind of nightmare for me in the 1st year of graduation. That was the time I decided to start playing badminton again and participated in college annual tournaments in which I lost the finals. I begin to get embarrassed with my loss,thinking that My game had become too bad.

     I cleared my 1st year successfully with 1st class. Smriti Mandhana who is a known name now and opens up for Indian women cricket team  was my school friend then. Her dedication towards the game was commendable ,which is the reason to her achievements internationally today. She used to say, “Anushka ,you should try your hand in cricket” . May be she doesn’t remember those moments now  but she was such an inspiration then and now for so many girls out their. Her fighting spirit and attitude towards life encouraged me to take on my game back at end of my 2nd academic year.

     I always knew that things were never gonna be easy . Right from starting to train again , convincing parents and fighting all odds I was able to get back to court again. I began training again as a professional player. But there was a condition to it ,my parents didn’t allow me to play in  any other tournaments except college university tournaments. I was happy with that too.

                I started training & the 1st most tournaments I played was annual college tournaments & I got the title for respective year. Things finally begin to fall in place , Later that year I represented my college for inter college tournaments & got selected for the university team of Bharati vidyapeeth university .              Also, got an opportunity to play the west zones Inter university tournaments for the following year. No sport comes without injuries same was the case with me when I was on top of my game and between  I got injured with coccyges injury & ligaments injuries . Still I decided to take medical treatment and continue with tournaments.

               I also had to keep a balance between studies and my sport but Keeping faith on myself I managed to study in the time I got and with gods grace I could make it up. I cleared my 3rd year exams successfully and entered the final phase of my graduation. This was indeed the most overwhelming moment of my life.

              Now I make sure I spare minimum an hour  per day for my training for the past 1.5 years even after a busy schedule of 12 hours a day.

               I love what I do and believe that you have to be sincere about achieving your goals. That 1 hour per day makes me feel uplifted and one step closer towards my ultimate goal . It acts like a stress buster just after a busy day. I hope I keep playing always and progress towards my sport. You Just have to remember that everything is small in front of your dreams.  I am a firm believer in hard work and I believe in myself to the fullest and that’s the secret of my life.

      I am thankful to mykhelbook for approaching me and looking in the insight of the problems faced by sport personals and coaches in our country. I highly appreciate their efforts for uplifting lives of sport persons .