When Malvika Bansod was 14 years old, former coach Kiran Makode made her parents sit and tell her that she should learn to cook meat. A blasphemous request to a vegetarian family in Nagpur. Servings of chicken, he instructed, were to be included in the teen's diet for essential protein resources. Supplements or eating out were not healthy options.
The initial setback was followed by cajoling, acceptance and compliance. A leftist, Makod almost never ran into young Southeastern female apprentices. Malavika was strange. He started coaching her when she was eleven, she needed some hammer through drives and crosscourt drills and a backhand.
He didn't strike like he was being torn at the seams with untimely brilliance. "It was not like 'Hey Sachin Tendulkar dikh gaya' (I have seen Sachin Tendulkar)," says Makode, "She was not a stroke player or highly talented. What he did was honesty and willingness to work hard. He followed everything that he was asked to do with great diligence."
On Thursday, all her flashy traits and her opponent's drab fitness level and absent form colluded to propel Malvika into the limelight as the girl who defeated Saina Nehwal. She became only the second Indian after PV Sindhu to defeat the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist 21-17, 21-9. Malavika would know better than to read a lot into it. It was Saina battling a knee problem, coming off a three-month vacation and struggling to keep her body together.
"I don't think it's sunk in yet," said the 20-year-old in a muffled voice while looking at the Zoom screen through his face mask after the match. He had never played a Super 500 event before this week's Yonex Sunrise India Open. "This is my first meeting with Saina... my dream ever since I started playing badminton. I have idolized her. When I started playing I used to watch her matches and see her style of play, her aggressive play, Overwhelmed with power. ...It's not like I was focusing on his injury," she said fearlessly, "the usual strategy was to push him as far as I could. It's working for me." That's why I stuck to it."
Ranked 111 in the world, Malavika has three senior domestic ranking titles, a Lithuanian international win since last June and two top-10 players from last year's Uber Cup, Pornpawi Chochuwong and Akane Yamaguchi. She didn't look like a star hit against Saina, which could be a good thing.
In the years when he trained under Makode (until 2018), every time left-handed legend Lin Dan's matches were televised, he would call his home number asking him to drop by and watch. was what she was doing. He will discuss the match with them in his next day's training session at Shakuntala Mkode Academy in Nagpur. Makode says that there was no left-handed female badminton player in Nagpur at that time.
Lefties are generally somewhat unplayable for most right-handed players. He immediately saw a great opportunity to crack her path. A studious child in her younger years, Malavika had good grades in school and, according to Makode, the challenge then was not to strangle each other for studies and badminton. Time management and creating a practical schedule turned into a priority. The former coach weaves his work around his school hours at the LIC office to give Malavika enough time to return to her books.
For the past three years, she has been training under Chief Junior National Coach Sanjay Mishra. A rally player, Malavika threw close drops against Saina, which worked partly because her opponent was busy revolting within his own body. No injury concerns against people his age or older, the youngster will need zip and strength in his arms to do any serious damage. She understands the role of strength building in stepping up her game and immediately calls upon her idea to award free points. An expensive habit at the senior level.
"So they're obviously always on the improvement list. In the near future, having a big lead, two or three points shouldn't be so easily awarded." Next, she will face Akarshi Kashyap, India's third highest-ranked women's singles player after Sindhu and Saina in the quarters. Malavika would like to put together her little store of learning to perish with the headlines of the day.