Behind Tanya Hemanth’s main-round fix: Making in-game adjustments and beginner’s pluck | Badminton News

Tanya Hemanth, the 21-year-old shuttler from Bangalore, needed beginner’s pluck to secure a main-draw spot for herself at badminton’s iconic ora Senayan for the Indonesia Masters Super 500. This included getting her first-few lessons in taming the notorious A/C drift, that strikes you like a gust in bigger playing arenas, while learning to control the shuttle. Nothing quite prepares first-seasoners for their foray into the world of elite badminton.
The World No 58 defeated Taiwanese Tung Ciou-Tong, 16-21, 21-17, 21-15 in 60 minutes, but she was realic in saying, the full-blast of “proper badminton” in the 32-player draw, will hit her, when she starts against sixth seed and former World Champion, Ratchanok Intanon.
“Today’s win was good for my confidence, but my opponent was my same level. We were both not used to the drift. The pace of the rallies wasn’t extreme. Tomorrow against Ratchanok it will be a proper, differently-paced game,” Tanya would say, of an opponent she’s played once before last March.
She joins four other Indian women, including PV Sindhu, in the main draw at Jakarta, and typifies the challenges faced upcoming Indian women’s singles players, needing longer to find their footing on the Tour, than Sindhu, who had her first Olympic medal 22.
Learning on the fly
Tanya, who saw her crucial years between age 16-19 vanish to Covid, would explain the challenges the conditions in large stadia used for higher level tournaments posed. “We practice a day before in the main hall, and the A/C is on when knocking, to figure if drift is sideways or front and back. On the centre court today, it was a lot more sideways and the tosses were flying out. I had to play, way in, 2-3 feet inside, it’s an adjustment you need to make,” she would say.
India’s top names like Sindhu internalised these tweaks and leapt past that stage, but the struggle is constant from venue to venue and only wisened through experience. Tanya, who has a couple of International Challenge finals at Poland and Azerbaijan, and as such straightaway hit the seniors, missing the junior years to pandemic, says top tournaments need getting used to.
“Bigger playing halls, lots of people, a lot more pressure,” she says of playing at ora, that’s like Lord’s or Wimbledon of badminton. “Not just the hall, but volunteers, security, small things like having to carry the accreditation card everywhere at all times or you’ll be stopped,” she explains. “China can be tough for language, but Indonesia is similar for food, rice and chicken, so no problems there.”
The excitement of playing at ora had started building up at the Indian airport itself. “Some Indonesian passengers on the flight asked us where we were headed, and they went crazy when we said we were going to play at ora. Badminton is massive there,” she would narrate.
While Ratchanok is her immediate opponent, the mesmerising play of Tai Tzu-ying has loomed in her dreams, only to realise how difficult it is to execute. “I love her deceptive game. But I realise how tough it is to control the shuttle trying to play corners with so much drift. She’s got so much experience and doesn’t give up even when trailing. That’s what I wanna emulate,” she says, well aware that sorcery might take time.
ora can overwhelm the best on noisy days. “It’ll be the proper game,” Tanya says.

Discover the Benefits of Our Subscription!

Stay informed with access to our award-winning journalism.
Avoid misinformation with trusted, accurate reporting.
Make smarter decisions with insights that matter.

Choose your subscription package