As Silver Queen Pusarla Venkata Sindhu returns home to a Khel Ratna and a royal welcome in Hyderabad's Gachibowli stadium on Monday, 10-year-old Adhya Singh in faraway Jamshedpur has found her role model.
Adhya, who trains at Mohan Ahuja Stadium under Jharkhand Badminton Association (JBA), said no matter what the Rio outcome, Sindhu was the world's best shuttler. "After her medal, I think I can also win if I work hard," said the third grader of Sheyn International School who loves Sindhu's smashes.
The way leggy Sindhu outplayed Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and fought valiantly against Spain's Carolina Marin, world number one, has captured the imagination of many pre-teens and teens in Jharkhand and put the sport, long seen as less glamorous than tennis, in the top league.
The JBA is flooded with calls from youngsters in the nine-18 age group who want to take up badminton professionally and join the daily training regimen conducted by the state outfit at Mohan Ahuja Stadium in Bistupur, Jamshedpur.
Most calls are from the steel city. But, a few are from Ranchi too. The capital's badminton facility built for National Games in Hotwar stays shut.
"Calls are pouring in almost daily. I am touched by the enthusiasm of young callers as Sindhu's success in Rio Olympics made youngsters interested in badminton as a career option. Some callers told me directly they wanted to follow in Sindhu's footsteps," JBA secretary K. Prabhakar Rao told The Telegraph.
But, Rao said age played a huge factor in professional sport. "I'm encouraging callers in the age group of nine-to-11. But, I tell youngsters above 16 that it's too late for professional badminton. They can instead play it as a fitness sport," he said.
The JBA conducts daily training sessions from 3pm to 6.30pm at the Bistupur stadium for 35 boys and girls. Coach P.G.S. Murty teaches youngsters while Rao also sometimes chips in.
"Yes, great moment for badminton. Sindhu is now role model of a whole generation," Rao said. "Not just girls, boys too are Sindhu fans."
All of nine, trainee shutter Aman Sengupta, Class III boy in RVS Academy, said he watched all of Sindhu's matches in the Olympics. "She was great," he beamed.
Agreed Ashutosh Kumar (14), current Under-15 East Singhbhum district champ, who said he was proud of Sindhu. "I watched her in action at Rio. She has done a great job for India. I would love to meet her," Ashutosh, a Class IX boy at DAV Public School (NIT), said.
"I hope now parents come forward to support their wards," Rao added.
Jharkhand Badminton Association, besides organising state championships and selecting shuttlers for national and zonal tournaments through selection trials, also hosts training camps under experienced mentors, for example, well-known coaches Nikhil Kanetkar and M.V. Murli Krishna, who visited Jamshedpur earlier this year.
It also hosts Mohan Memorial Tournament that attracts players from across Jharkhand. Mohan Ahuja Stadium, the hub of shuttle activities, is headed by IPS (retd) Deepak Kumar Verma.
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