Calcutta: She is just 13 and has reached some milestones that teens at her age can hardly imagine.

Meet Shreya Tiwari, a Class VIII student of Indira Academy, who recently won an under-15 state badminton championship in Raiganj and reached semis of another under-15 state-level tournament in Durgapur. She has been training under Pullela Gopichand, the Dronacharya of Indian badminton for the past one and half years.

Shreya started playing the game six years ago as her father felt she must engage in a sport to stay fit. "Just a few days after she started training under coach Tapas Biswas at Park Circus Byam Samiti, the coach called me up and told me 'she has a great potential, she will surely play for India'. Shreya also fell in love with the game soon after joining the coaching centre," said Sanjay Tiwari, the father, who is the founder-principal of Indira Academy.

Shreya, a big fan of Srikanth Kidambi, started playing district-level tournaments in 2012 and just after a couple of years of playing at district level, she started playing at state and national level. "Shreya is very sincere and passionate about her game. She is a fast learner. She started winning state-level tournaments at the age of nine, which is really commendable," said coach Biswas.

Shreya put up an astonishing performance in 2015 when she won four U-13 state-level tournaments in a single year. In January 2016, she became India's No. 17 in U-13 category. What happened next was beyond Shreya's imagination.

"Since I started playing badminton, I considered Pullela Gopichand as my idol. I couldn't even imagine in my wildest dream that I would get noticed by him and get a call from his academy," said the happy-go-lucky girl.

Shreya's performance prompted the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy select her for the under-13 trial. "Around 600 kids went for the trial and only six girls from all across India were selected for training at the academy. Shreya, the only one from Bengal, got the nod," said the proud father.

Shreya loves training at Gopichand Academy but she misses her home too. "I love the training there, but I don't like living at the hostel. I miss my home so much," said the left-handed player. Whenever she comes to Calcutta, she trains at the Park Circus academy.

Shreya has already become a favourite of Gopichand. "Sir always tells me to play properly and inspires me by saying he will make me like his daughter Gayatri," said a spirited Shreya.

Biswas feels Shreya can meet Gopichand's expectations. "Shreya is a complete player. She just needs to be stronger as she is a bit injury-prone."

Shreya's dream? "Winning an Olympic gold," she signed off with a smile.