Guwahati, Nov. 21: Sujat Barua has inherited a fascination for sports from his family. But he never dreamt that his passion would take him one day to rarefied heights, those which nobody from his native land of Assam has ever attained. That, too, in a game few in the whole of India play — squash.

Yet, Assam has foregone a likely medal at the National Games by dropping the discipline from its list.

The 14-year-old son of former Assam first class cricketer Jaydeep Barua has chosen a sport for his career that only five of his contemporaries have taken up till now. Chennai-based Sujat has become the second-ranked junior squash player in the country.

Sujat, a cousin of former international swimmer Mithu Barua, achieved the feat by finishing runner-up in the recent junior nationals. He lost to top seed Vikram Malhotra of Mumbai at Racquet Club in Calcutta. He was also part of the Tamil Nadu quartet that clinched the team title in Calcutta.

However, when other parts of the country are providing ample support to Sujat’s career, his home state has disappointed him terribly by dropping squash from the list of disciplines for the 33rd National Games here next year.

“I was very happy when I got the news that squash was going to be included as a discipline in the Guwahati National Games. My coaches and my friends were all willing to participate there. Some of us were preparing to represent Assam. But I was most disappointed when my father informed me that it was dropped because infrastructural facilities were inadequate,” Sujat said from Chennai.

He took up the racquet at Mayo College, Ajmer, where he was admitted by his father, who recognised his sporting talents, in 2003. The youngster has not only achieved an enviable feat but has also become the blue-eyed boy of Indian national coach Cyrus Poncho.

But before Poncho, it was Dushyant Singh, then at Mayo College, who recognised the talent latent in Sujat and had to snatch him away from his counterparts in cricket, hockey and football in the college to groom the talented youngster.

Dushyant Singh’s bet bore fruit in just four months, when Sujat became the under-13 school champion. After that, he represented Rajasthan in the under-15 category in the nationals in 2004. Since then, there has been no looking back for the youngster.