Badminton is a game that is played in a court measuring 44 feet in length and 17 feet in width, and has players who need to coordinate with speed, hand, and eyes. For becoming champions in this game a player has to get training in a disciplined and focused manner. There is a gap of one word between a successful person and an unsuccessful person, that word is “determination”. Quoting this, today, we are talking about two of our very own Indian Badminton players who have surpassed all struggles and remained focused. Belonging from a small district Dhar of Madhya Pradesh, the duo of Sourabh, and Samir Verma has ranked in World’s Top 35 Badminton players.
It was in the year 1998 when the duo started their journey from Dhar’s only Badminton Court, which was accessible to influential players only. It was through repeated requests that they got permission to enter the court. As the family suffered through a financial crisis and could not afford basic necessities, Sourabh played with a broken shuttlecock and racquet thrown by other players in court and practiced badminton only when the court was empty. Watching Sourabh play, Samir from a young age too followed his brother`s footsteps and became a player.
Their father recalls that people taunted him as to this game is not hockey nor football, the shuttlecock itself will cost you a meal. Having a simple job with basic amenities to survive, playing an expensive sport like badminton was difficult but not unattainable. “I made them practice with the used racquets and if the knot was broken I fixed them myself. Every year in December, Dhar witnesses a Fair, from where I bought cheap clothes like t-shirts and trousers for my kids,” said their father.
“And this is how we fought with our financial crunch and supported my children to reach this position. I always used to say that there may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do,” he added.
Both Sourabh and Samir have played numerous international tournaments. Samir was a participant in tournaments like 2011 Junior Asian Badminton Championship (Lucknow), and Youth Commonwealth Games (England). In Junior World Badminton Championship at China’s Taipei, Samir clinched a Silver.
Samir also bagged Gold Medal in Sayyed Modi Hyderabad Open in 2018 and the Swiss Open.