Prodigy Deepika Sihag became the third Indian woman after PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal to win a BWF World Tour title at the Super 300 level or above. Sihag clinched the Thailand Masters after her opponent Goh Jin Wei retired clutching her hamstring at 21-8, 6-3 down.
Sihag’s badminton journey started when her father enrolled her along with her younger brother to badminton at the Tau Devilal Stadium in Panchkula.
“Frankly, I didn’t enjoy it much because there was pressure to study also. But slowly as results came at the state level, I started appreciating playing one of the fastest sports. I love the speed,” Devika says after winning her first Super 300 title.
Her father would work on his fitness at the stadium and wanted his children totake up the sport.
“At first, dad was not ready to send me. But my mum talked him into it. In six years, I’ve gotten used to the sacrifice of staying away from home,” Devika said.
Sihag has been training at the Vimal Kumar’s Centre of Excellence and has benefited from Indonesian coach Irwansyah training Sindhu there.
“She’s been very consistent this whole week, and patient. She always had the big smash, but needed someone to remind her to employ it,” said coach Sayali Gokhale as per the Indian Express.
Furthermore, Sayali says, “I think all Indian girls can start getting big results with very small changes. But they need to work on speed and strength because consistency is high on the Tour. Devika needs to stay injury-free. Technically she’s good, but strength has to go up”.
“She retrieves well, but there’s scope for improvement in her court speed. She makes good openings and keeps opponents guessing at the net,” Sayali says.
The victory will help Sihag move into the top 50 and seed her better in the upcoming tournaments.
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