UP shuttler Divyansh Singh scales new heights

Fondly called “Harry Potter” by his family, 10-year-old Divyansh Singh’s antics are similar to the famed protagonist of the seven-part fantasy novel. He mesmerises with his unusual antics, often climbing the wall of his house and showing off his balancing act, and even using the broom in his house as his ride – just like Harry Potter does!

Energetic acts like these took this boy from Ayodhya to the badminton court at the age of three in 2015. Seven years on, he became the first-ever national champion in the boys’ under-11 category at the mini nationals in Noida on Thursday. The 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.

The lad, who had both singles and doubles titles in the under-11 category at the state championship in Bareilly last month, said he participated in the mini nationals only to win the title.

“My parents allowed me to participate only if I was confident, and so, I had to win at all costs,” said Diyavnsh, who will also play in the sub-junior nationals, starting Saturday, at the UP Badminton Academy in Lucknow.

Divyansh’s mother, Pratibha Singh, a Radio Jockey (RJ) with the All India Radio (AIR) in UP's Faizabad, said the family wanted to channelise Divyansh’s energy into sports, and badminton was the only sport known to the family at the time.

“Divyansh used to accompany his elder brother Vipransh (also a shuttler) to training at Faizabad stadium, where he took up the sport. Even now, he is a naughty boy, who loves doing all the tricks at home to keep all of us entertained,” she said.

Coach Anoop Dubey said he was amazed to see the energy of Divyansh even at the age of three. “I told his parents to leave him with me at the badminton court as it was the best sport to channelise his energy. He is quite impressive at the net, especially in dribbling and hitting powerful smashes,” he said.

“Whenever he finds his seniors roaming free in the badminton hall, he asks them to play some games with him, and his never-say-die attitude has been his hallmark,” said Dubey, an NIS coach with no job in hand, as in the post-Covid situation he wasn’t appointed on the ad hoc basis.