Badminton’s popularity in the country is bordered on passion and fitness, but teenage badminton champion Mayukha Sreejesh took up the sport just for the love of it.

Recently, the 11-year-old won U13 and U15 titles and reached U17 semi-finals at a recently-held community tournament, organised by Qatar Indian Association.

Former Qatar and Al Rayyan basketball star Yaseen Ismail, who was a chief guest at the finals, took a few knocks in an exhibition doubles game, exuded confidence on badminton’s rising popularity.

“It’s good to see the sport become popular in the country with so many youngsters playing badminton,” said 41-year-old Yaseen.

Mayukha Sreejesh

Mayukha overcame her opponents with deft footwork and techniques in the two finals she won.

“She’s good and possess excellent technique,” said her coach Manoj Sahibjan.

Mayukha was a raw talent when she joined the New Vision Badminton Sport (NVBS) in 2018. In quick time, the shuttler was able to iron out some of the flaws in her techniques under the watchful eyes of the coaches and established herself as one of the best up and coming shuttlers in the country.

“The reason why I joined NVBS is because of their dedication, punctuality and discipline. I had gained every bit of experience from the coaches especially Manoj sir,” said Mayukha.

“Currently, I’m training under Malaysian coach Ruben Raj.”

One good thing about Mayukha is that she doesn’t always focus on winning matches, but works hard to polish off her weaknesses.

“In quick time, she has picked up a lot. She’s good in her movements and covers the court nicely. Her forehand shots are strong but she still needs to improve on her backhand,” said Manoj.

For the record, 14 NVBS cadets ended up on the podium from 24 categories.

More than 250 players participated in 24 different categories including singles and doubles, starting from U9 age-group (boys and girls), elite unisex category and veterans’ category for players aged 45 and above.