Deepthi Ramesh jumps to India's No. 2

NAGPUR: Everyday for nearly three hours Deepthi Ramesh sweats it out at the Subhedar Hall. But Wednesday was completely different. There was a distinct spring in her strides as she trained hard under her coach Prasad Sadhankar in the evening hours.
The reason was special. The 11-year-old has now jumped to India No. 2 in rankings of the U-13 girls singles category, according to the year-end domestic rankings released by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Wednesday.Deepthi's rise has been largely due to her consistent performances in the national-level sub-junior tournaments.
Karnataka's Ashwini Bhat is leading the midget group followed by city lass Deepthi. Assam's Kasturi Phukan is placed third. Another promising city shuttler Rashi Lambe is occupying the 14th spot.
An impressive show in the sub-junior nationals at New Delhi early this month, where she had reached pre-quarterfinals after going through the qualifiers, helped the talented shuttler jump to second spot. Earlier, in Indore and Bangalore sub-junior events too, Deepthi had done well to stamp her authority.
The BAI ranking was based on the performance of players in these three national tourneys.
"It is very good news for me. Now, my target will be to reach No. 1 in India. I will practice even more vigorously in the coming months to prepare for the next season," Deepthi told TOI on Wednesday.
Deepthi, who recently won the Yash Open Badminton U-13 title on Monday, is studying in Standard VI at Centre Point School, Katol Road.
Her coach Sadhankar is thrilled with the Deepthi's achievement but added it comes with little more responsibility on his shoulders.
"To become India's No. 2 player in any category is not easy. It gives me plenty of satisfaction that our hard work has yielded in great results. At the same time it has added pressure on me to maintain that ranking," said Sadhankar.
It has been phenomenal rise for Deepthi, who started playing badminton barely two and half years ago. She was into athletics before coming to Nagpur in May, 2009. Deepthi's athleticism is surely helping her in badminton.
"She used to run 200 and 400 metres and was doing pretty well in the inter-school meets in Bangalore. I got transferred in Nagpur and wanted to continue her athletics. But since I found no proper facilities for athletics here we decided to shift her to badminton," said Deepthi's father Ramesh Rao, who works for a multi-national company.
Mother Leena, who usually travels with Deepthi whenever she plays tournaments outside, gave entire credit to Sadhankar for turning her only child to champion.
"Major credit goes to her coach. He is the one who managed to turn Deepthi into very good player in a short time. As parents we will continue to support our daughter if she wants to make badminton as profession in the future," said the proud mother.
After Arundhati Pantawane, Sarang Lakhanee and Rasika Raje, Deepthi looks like another fine prospect who can excel at the top level.