SIVAKASI WEATHER
Wooden court to pinnacle

19-06-2018
Aakarshi won her first title at an all-India ranking U-15 tournament in Sivakasi in 2014, when she was 13. Strangely, she didn’t even have practice partners back then. “Where I trained, there was nobody else. Mostly, it was me and my coach on the court.”

Despite that, she won her first national titles in 2015, in the U-17 as well as U-19 category. Luck smiled on her in 2016, after she won a national-ranking title Bengaluru. Her performance drew the attention of Padukone. Even then, she could not start training under the former World No 1 because it meant shifting base. She also had Class X exams to think of. It became possible only after her mother too decided to shift to Bengaluru. Now she lives with her mother, in a flat provided by Olympic Gold Quest.

Her father, a doctor, is still in Bhilai. “Prakash sir saw my performance two years ago and asked me to join his academy. I joined two months back and am happy to be supported by Olympic Gold Quest,” says Aakarshi, adding that her father it was who drilled in her the importance of fitness and physical training at a young age. Asked about her strengths, Sayali Gokhale, Aakarshi’s coach at the Padukone academy, said she is good in defence and needs to work on attack.


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