Still have to prove that I deserve being junior world no.1: Aditya Joshi

It was quite sudden, unexpected and surprising — Aditya Joshi’s rise to the top of the world junior badminton rankings . Even he did not anticipate it. But if you closely look at his career, there was never any doubt about him reaching the pinnacle. “My friend called me up and just asked me to check the rankings. When I did, I was in disbelief. Shocked. I was 54th in the same list last January so to be No 1 now is a great feeling,” Joshi told Firstpost. Aditya’s run in recent times has been quite good and he has a habit of doing well against senior opponents. [caption id=“attachment_1327717” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Aditya Joshi has had a good run in 2013.[/caption] What really worked for Aditya was that all those ranked above him in the junior rankings turned 18, making him the best player out there in the world below 18. But his senior ranking has also gone up exponentially. On 12 December 2013 he was ranked 790th in the senior rankings and on 19 December had jumped more than 400 places to 387th. He starts 2014 at 460th. In a way, the sense of achievement isn’t as sweet. “For me, it’s okay. But if I win the world junior’s, then that is something. I still have to prove to people that I deserve being at the top — it just didn’t happen on default,” he said, adding that he intends to divide his year playing as many senior tournaments as possible while ensuring he does well in the World and Asian Junior Championships. Joshi is 17 and splits his training between the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore and his home in Dhar Town in Madhya Pradesh, where his father trains him at the Sports Authority of India facility. Dhar is incidentally a massive feeder of badminton talent to India . Joshi mentions his father and his coach — two-time national champion and former Chief National Coach of India Vimal Kumar — as those who have influenced his career the most. While he’s picked up stroke-play from his father, speed and attacking is what Kumar works with him on. “He’s tactically very smart — it’s the mental aspect he has to work on. He gets complacent against weaker opponents and when he has big leads. And this he has to get past in the next two years — he needs to apply himself on court, no one can teach this to him and it won’t come by sitting in front of a sports psychologist. It’s situational training and he’ll learn it only in games,” Vimal Kumar tells us. For Joshi, there’s no defining story for why he took up badminton. His father is a badminton coach and it was natural for Aditya and his brother Pratul to go with their father to training. By the time Aditya was five, he had a badminton racquet in his hands (It was the same for Pratul, who beat Taufik Hidayat in 2012 to create waves in the badminton world). Aditya’s rise has been quick but he realises the pressures of being there. Despite his father being in the game, it was not easy to rise through the ranks while managing to do well in academics too. “I was a naughty kid but I was always good at studies,” he says, mentioning an average percentage of 70-80%. “But I think my school was very supportive of me. The principal knew I was winning tournaments for them and (starting from seventh grade) gave me an exemption from all exams but the finals. From June to December only badminton and only January-March to prepare an entire syllabus. My parents didn’t want me to become one of those kids stuck to video games and the television so we didn’t have cable at our house too,” Aditya adds — saying that there were, however, moments where he thought it was ‘getting too much.’ “Every player goes through it but you fight that frustration,” he says. “But as soon as I became the sub-junior national champion and then won a bronze medal at the Youth Asian Badminton C’ship in Japan in 2011, I got the confidence that badminton would be my career.” [caption id=“attachment_1331549” align=“alignleft” width=“243”] Aditya in action[/caption] Aditya’s sudden rise to fame has seen the media harrow him for interviews and bytes and while the six-footer admits that this is also something he wanted — it’s slightly overboard. “Too much media glare too early in the career. Yes, it gives you confidence that people are noticing but I already feel some pressure.” And it is up to his father and his coach Vimal Kumar to keep his feet grounded: “My only worry is that he doesn’t get carried away with all this media attention and being junior No 1. It is an achievement but winning tournaments is the real deal. He’s got to stay focused — there are so many stories of kids like him who don’t realise their potential.” But would Aditya have the media stop scrutinising every match of his from now on and let him grow as a player in his own time? “Yes, I’d like that.” Aditya Joshi: the badminton player Asia Youth U19 Individual Championships 2013: Pre-quarters Sushant Chipalkatti Memorial India Junior International Badminton C’ships 2013: Winner Suhandinata Cup 2013: Group stages with India SCG BWF World Junior Championships 2013: Third round TATA Open India International Challenge 2013: Quarterfinals Joshi’s 2013 record : Playing style: Right-handed, attacking, quick points Height: 6'0" Weight: 68 kgs Strengths: Dribbles, smashes, flicks Weakness: Backhand