Sacrifices reap rewards for parents of Olympic shuttlers

'It was tough financially for the first few years but my friends and family supported me and once he did well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, there was no looking back.'

Six summers ago, Clifford Crasto left his daughter Tanisha at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad on her 15th birthday, hoping it would give wings to her nascent badminton dreams even if it meant being far away from the comfort of her home in Dubai.

It was a cultural change for Tanisha, who was born in Dubai. But she waddled through that and will now represent India at the Paris Olympics along with her senior women's doubles partner Ashwini Ponnappa.

While there is no guidebook to raise an Olympian, for parents, it's a journey filled with sacrifices, and emotional upheaval.

"I took her to India on her birthday. It was a very brave decision, an emotional decision to leave her alone in a different country," the Goa-born Clifford, who shifted base to work in Dubai, told PTI over phone.

"She was born and brought up in Dubai. So, it was hard for both of us. But we knew that she had taken the right path and we supported her. We are happy with that decision and happy with where she has reached now," he said.

Tanisha showed early promise and emerged as a top player in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

She represented Bahrain and won the women's doubles title at the 2016 Bahrain International Challenge before becoming the youngest singles winner at the UAE Open at 14.

Then Tanisha decided to compete in India, representing Goa from 2017, and won the junior and senior nationals multiple times.

Clifford, who worked at Intel distributors in Dubai for 18 years, had to leave his job to accompany Tanisha to tournaments.

"It was quite tough for me. I had to travel with her for national, state and international tournaments.

"I would not get so many leaves as she was playing around 25-30 tournaments in a year. So, I had to quit my job," said the Margao-born Clifford.

Clifford and his family have already booked their Paris tickets and will be cheering Tanisha from the stands.

While Tanisha will be plying her trade in women's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be leading India's charge for gold in men's doubles.

Kasi Vishwanatham, Satwik's father, found a way to make his son comfortable ahead of the big event -- recreate a home-like atmosphere at his Hyderabad training base before their Paris departure.

"Before every big tournament like the Asian Games and world championships, we try to stay for a few days with him in Hyderabad.

"His mother (teacher) took a break from work and was here (in Hyderabad) for three weeks now," Vishwanatham, a retired physical education teacher, said.

While Satwik's parents will not travel to Paris, his elder brother Ramcharan will be in the City of Lights.

Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand noticed Satwik when he reached the U-15 men's doubles final of the Nani Prasad Memorial tournament in Hyderabad.

"Gopichand told me that we need a men's doubles player for India's team championships," said Vishwanatham, a state level player and international umpire, who officiated during the 2009 World Championships at Hyderabad.

"It was tough financially for the first few years but my friends and family supported me and once he did well at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, there was no looking back," he recalled.

Satwik and Chirag won the men's doubles silver at the 2018 CWG. Satwik also played a pivotal role in India winning their maiden gold in the mixed team championships at Gold Coast.

The duo bettered that doubles silver with a maiden gold at the 2022 CWG in Birmingham. Now, they are hot favourites to win gold at the Paris Games.

They had done well in their debut Olympics in Tokyo but failed to enter the knockout stage despite winning two of the three group matches.

"He was quite sad after the Tokyo Games because they had done well and had beaten the gold medallist pair. But according to rules they couldn't make it (knockouts)," said Vishwanatham.

"He is not someone who gets too low after a loss. He is pretty honest in his assessment about the reason behind the defeat. Whenever he calls me after a loss, he would point out how they lost, and where the opponents played better," he added.

Here, DK Sen is a bit different. Unlike other parents, who generally support their children off the field, Sen has seen the progress of Lakshya from close quarters as his co-coach.

In fact, both of Sen's sons – Lakshya and Chirag – are international players and they have learnt the ropes from him at the SAI Almora Centre before he joined the duo at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru.

Lakshya's journey to the Olympics qualification was tough as he had fallen out of the rankings bracket at the beginning of the year.

But two semi-final finishes at the All England and French Open helped him seal his spot at Paris.

"After he lost in All England, I spoke to Prakash (Padukone) sir that if we could add a drill in his training where we can make him play those crucial final points in a way that he gets one point for every three points at a stretch," Sen said.

"This strengthens the mental aspect, so we have planned such situations during the training ahead of the Olympics," he said.