Consistently crowned the u-15, U-17 and U-19 badminton (singles and doubles) Uttar Pradesh state champion since she relocated from Kolkata to Lucknow in 2012, Riya Mookerjee (17) is the latest hot prospect in Indian badminton, set to follow in the footsteps of Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu. Back on the courts following injuries which kept her out of action after she won the Sub Junior National Badminton Championship 2012, this promising shuttler donned India colours last November (2014), teaming up with Satwik Sairaj of Andhra Pradesh to bag silver in the Under-17 mixed doubles category of the Asian Youth U-19 Badminton tournament staged in Bangkok, Thailand.

The only child of Hyderabad-based former Asian Badminton junior bronze medalist Indrajit Mookerjee, now a Hindustan Petroleum executive and Rupa, a homemaker, Riya is a class XII (commerce) student of the CBSE-affiliated The Avadh School (TAS), Lucknow. She took to the bird at age nine (2007). I began winning club-level competitions and slowly graduated to district and state-level tournaments in the U-10 and U-13 categories, she recalls.

Developing her game hasn’t been smooth sailing, with Indrajit being transferred every two-three years sometimes to habitats with inadequate play and coaching facilities. It was only after the family moved to Lucknow in 2012 and enrolled Riya full-time at the Babu Banarsi Das UP Badminton Academy and she started getting professional mentoring from Indonesian coach Hendra Muliano that she has learned the finer points of the game.

A firm believer in physical fitness and continuous practice as prerequisites of this fast-pace game, a typical day in Riya’s life begins at 6 a.m with a regimen of on and off-court exercises which ends at 7.30 p.m, followed by a couple of hours of private academic tuitions.
Although currently focused on clearing her class XII boards, Riya’s priority is to play for India. œI have charted my career path carefully. Right now I’m training to win the National U-19 women’s singles title in November. After that I intend to play intensively in women’s national and international tournaments to raise my game to international standards, she says with quiet determination.

Wind beneath your wings!

Puja Awasthi (Lucknow)