History will record Priyanshu Rajawat as, literally, the first Indian shuttler to lift the prestigious Thomas Cup trophy. He played one match in the tournament, slotting in as the third singles player for India against Canada, at the 2022 edition of the event in Bangkok. In the celebrations after the final, he had a wide smile, as he went around hugging the coaching staff and the senior players in the team. On the podium, his teammates and coaches celebrated as he, as the youngest member of the squad, received the trophy and did the shuffle – lifting the prestigious cup over his head. The rest of the Indian squad cheered on as India were officially crowned World Champions in a badminton team event for the first time.
Nearly one year on from that incredible moment, Rajawat stood on the top of the podium again. On Sunday, the 21-year-old was crowned winner of the Orleans Masters Super 300. It was a tournament not as important as the triumph in Thailand, yet it remains significant in the greater scheme of things.
That it has taken till the second week of April for an Indian shuttler to win a singles title on the BWF World Tour in 2023 is a bit of a surprise given how well 2022 had started. But Rajawat topping the field at an event to become the first from the country to win on tour this year is a cause for optimism as it’s his first great step towards the big time.
That journey in Bangkok was significant in Rajawat’s career. Having won the selection trials held in the lead-up to the Thomas Cup for the one available single spot beyond the country’s top three, Rajawat ensured he would be around the greatest team event triumph in Indian badminton history. Experience like that at such a young age cannot be underestimated.
“A lot has changed since the Thomas Cup,” Rajawat had said at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune during the 84th Senior National Championships late February where Scroll was present. “Game-wise, watching the likes of Viktor Axelsen and the others, how they play their matches, how they’re involved in teams.
“The senior players guided us very well. The team spirit was very good, there was like a brotherhood among us and everyone was looking after each other. We were preparing well, sleeping on time, and then playing the next day.”
On Sunday in France, he overcame a stiff challenge from a fellow 21-year-old in Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen. The left-hander is also a relative newcomer on tour and tested Rajawat’s movement on court, his stamina and patience. After looking like he was running out of steam, getting frustrated by his own errors and the brilliant defensive skills of Johannesen (ranked a bit higher than the Indian at 49 on the day), Rajawat found a second wind in the decider and closed out the match with some beautiful strokeplay.
“Earlier I had no patience. I used to get angry very quickly,” Rajawat, ranked 58, had said in Pune. “Now I play aaram, aaram se (calmly), with patience. The speed has improved, the smash power has increased because those are the things the coaches have been working on. There was a lot of gym work, strength exercises. My strong point is the smash, so to improve the strength I had to do gym work. On court, spending hour on hour for skills, and then a lot of gym work.”
All week in Orleans, Rajawat’s attacking game stood out. His smashes are his strength, he has a mean two-footed banger that caught opponents off guard repeatedly. His crosscourt whips are equally good, as he takes the shuttle early and uses his terrific hand-speed. The overhead backhands are a joy to watch and reminds one of HS Prannoy’s, which commentator Steen Pedersen reckons to be one of the best in the world right now.
His biggest win was the one against world No 12 Kenta Nishimoto, which came in the second round. With the caveat that Nishimoto had been playing right through the European swing, going to the final in Madrid Masters last week, Rajawat simply wouldn’t allow the Japanese to play his rallying game. Much fresher and with all-round aggression, he registered the biggest match win of his career, in his first-ever contest against a top 15 player in the world.
For those in badminton circles, Rajawat’s name has been mentioned as one of the next big things for a few years now. He had caught everyone’s eye as a teenager in Premier Badminton League in 2020 taking down a top-50 player in Lee Dong Keun playing for Hyderabad Hunters alongside PV Sindhu. He has always been earmarked for success because of his technical skills, while he had to work on getting stronger physically.
But he hasn’t shied away from putting in the hard yards in a sport he took up at the age of six.
“My elder brother used to play,” he told Scroll in Pune.
“I used to watch him play when my parents and I would go to pick him up from training. Earlier I used to enjoy playing football. But then I kept watching him, and I started playing. Slowly, I got interested and stuck to it. I started playing at six, but joined the Gopichand Academy when I was eight, I’ve been there ever since.”
Mentored by Pullela Gopichand, Rajawat was in Orleans with coach Anil Kumar Nigam from the academy and the two had a great rapport on display as they navigated the most significant week for him on the international stage.
In his Scroll column Shuttle Zone, former India doubles player Shlok Ramchandran had written:
Priyanshu has the rare combination of being tall and extremely fast and often plays a high-intensity game. A bit like Ginting, which makes him stand out. He looks lanky but can surprise players with the power he generates with his big smashes, but his biggest weapon is his half-smash which comes down to his picture-perfect contact point. Extremely comfortable with playing slow and high-paced games, he is solid in defence which allows him to also play counter-attacking badminton, and has enough X-Factor about him to cause a threat to the best players in the world. Priyanshu’s biggest concern is how injury prone he is as I do not see any red flags technically or tactically on the court.
That is something that is not lost on Rajawat as he has started working on his fitness, improving his diet. “I realised that if I want to play I need to be fit. I need to be injury-free. To play in tournaments, to win tournaments, to improve the rankings, I need to be fit. I had to let go of sweet stuff because that slowed down the body. I have reduced sugar. And then no junk food, no pizzas. Maybe once a week for a cheat day, but not regularly,” he had said in Pune.
Armed with an all-round game, and working on his fitness and patience, Rajawat has all the raw ingredients that go into making a top badminton player. There is a long way to go for the youngster from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh and he will face stiffer challenges as opponents start to figure him out more. But the excitement around him is starting to materialise, as he turns his attention to putting in a couple of weeks of training in Hyderabad before the BWF World Tour resumes in Malaysia next month. And there will be Olympic qualification points at stake when that happens.
“I will try to get my qualification for the Olympics,” he said at the Nationals when asked what his target for the year was. “Watching everyone at the Thomas Cup, I’ve got that will now.”
The men’s singles Olympic qualification for India is going to be fascinating to watch over the next year as such, and Rajawat has thrown his hat in the ring too. It’s a long shot, but one to look out for.
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