Ayodhya lad wins maiden U-11 national badminton title

By
Sharad Deep
LUCKNOW Fondly called “Harry Potter” by his family, 10-year-old Divyansh Singh is highly inspired by the energy of the star character of the seven-part fantasy novel. The boy mesmerizes everyone with his energetic acts, often jumping on the wall of his house and showing his balancing act!

The fitness of this Ayodhya lad took him to the badminton court at the age of just three in 2015. Seven years on, the boy on Thursday became the first-ever national champion in the boys’ under-11 category at the mini nationals at Noida. This category was introduced for the first time.

Divyansh outplayed Assam’s Anikesh Dutta 21-17, 21-16 in straight games. The maiden title of the under-11 girls’ singles went to Telangana’s Hamsini Chadaram, who brushed aside Assam’s Subhrasree Smita Baruwati 22-20, 21-17 also in straight games.

“I was confident about winning and didn’t allow Dutta to free his arms and kept tossing the shuttle up, while winning the first game. In the second, we were locked at 14-all at one moment. Thereafter, I chose to play an attacking game and won easily in the end,” a confident Divyansh said after the match