Malvika Bansod pushed beyond her limited and tired out the better-seeded Singaporean in a three-setter
Malvika Bansod politely declined the offer of having legendary coach Irwansyah sit for her All England opening match against Singaporean Yeo Jia Min. The Indonesian perfectly understood, as Malvika and her regular coach for the last two years at Thane’s Shrikant Vad Academy, Vignesh Devlekar, had a plan to take down the World No 12.
The 23-year-old from Nagpur had lost to Jia Min previously and was coming off a first-round loss from Orleans. But pushing herself beyond limits of exhaustion, with both players utterly knackered by the end, Malvika recorded a stunning 21-13, 10-21, 21-17 victory to advance to the second round. Things were tricky at 11-9 in the decider, but Malvika did well to conserve energy, and mix her usually well-executed high tosses and lifts with attacking openings on cross shots as Jia Min tired out, fading off at the baseline.
Vignesh had won five national ranking titles in 2019 in doubles, and played Maldives Open, the only international trip he could afford on his parents’ salaries that year – mother a BMC teacher, and father a clerk in a PSU. “The lockdown ended my playing dreams and I had no funds anyway. But when coaching Malvika, I lean on my weaknesses – I never had a big attack or great physical strength. I was good at finding solutions,” Devlekar says. The long rallies and tall tosses that would strain Jia Min, the coach and athlete had analysed thoroughly.
In addition, Malvika dumped low serves in the large Birmingham hall for high serves -again pressuring Jia Min’s neck – and injected pace into her first stroke. The Indian was prepared for the long rallies, but had no intention of defending endlessly. She created openings, pouncing on the short lengths.
Malvika has compiled nearly a dozen thick diaries where she jots down details of fitness workouts she observes when at tournaments and national camps. “She must be the only player at this level (World No 28) who designs own fitness. We are desperately looking for an experienced trainer but we don’t have the funds for it yet. So, she plans it herself,” Vignesh notes.
Same shots, different paths
Malvika, a cerebral player, has spent last few months devising two strokes from the same position, guided by Vad and Vignesh, tweaking angles with wrist work, because a giant smash isn’t suddenly going to materialise. “We work within our limitations, but we are looking to get her stronger if we get a trainer,” he adds.
The engineering graduate who had beaten Olympic bronze medallist Gregoria Tunjung at China, has immersed herself even deeper into badminton, and shut out all noise that questions if she has a future when 23 already. “Qualifying for LA Olympics is the plan. We are working towards it,” Vignesh says, adding they hit it off, geeking out on the sport because he was in constant analysing/plotting mode as coach. A BWF Level 1 certified coach, he’s pursuing his MBA alongside, but the natural aptitude for coaching and the bond he struck with Malvika has brought good results.
One of the biggest tweaks is her preference for round the head strokes that are fetching winners the backhand didn’t. Three sessions a day barely leave her with any time for anything else, and she’s closed out all social media and communication to focus on badminton.
At times, her worried mother, a self-trained sports science professional and nutritionist offers her a piece of chocolate to de-stress, but Malvika’s rigorous self control has seen her issue a rule that nobody in the family will eat chocolates or binge on chips for 7-8 months now. She is known to steal a glance at Pani puri and bhel, two things she loves plenty, but not venture close to them, from fear of catching a sore throat.
All evenings see her work on fitness by herself. “She’s working hard like crazy. We don’t have funds for beyond the coach. Hopefully if we get results and few Top 10 wins, they will consider funding her,” Vignesh says.