Anmol Kharb: Star of Asian Championships win and next superstar of Indian badminton

Quite suddenly, Anmol Kharb has become the toast of India’s badminton fraternity. With a string of sensational wins, Anmol played a pivotal role in propelling the Indian women's team to a historic triumph in the Badminton Asia Team Championships. With her prodigious talent and fearless feats in three successive deciding matches for India, Anmol has mesmerized fans and experts alike and within days has emerged as the next big thing in Indian badminton!

In a pulsating final, 17-year-old Anmol displayed exceptional skill and mental resolve to help India defeat Thailand and clinch its maiden Gold Medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships on Sunday (February 18). The final was deadlocked at 2-2 when Anmol stepped onto the court in a pressure-cooker situation. But showing ice-cool nerves and amazing skill, the Haryana teenager dismantled the 45th-ranked Pornpicha Choeikeewong in the deciding rubber.

Dominating both sets with flair, Anmol outwitted her fancied opponent at 21-14, 21-9 and confidently secured India's first-ever title in the prestigious event.

This remarkable victory was Anmol's third consecutive win over higher-ranked rivals in decisive matches at the Asian Championships. Earlier, in the critical clash with China, she defeated China's Wu Luo Yu, ranked 149th in the world, in a fiercely contested match. Anmol’s hard-fought triumph at 22-20, 14-21, and 21-18 not only kept Indian hopes alive but also set the stage for her further heroics in the tournament. In the vital semi-final with Japan, she ensured an Indian win by outsmarting Natsuki Nidaira, ranked 29th in the world. World No 472 Kharb stunned her Japanese opponent ranked 443 places above her and won at 21-14, 21-18.

The win implied that India would win its first-ever medal at the Championships.

In all these three encounters, Anmol's victories came in the deciding fifth match and ensured India’s march to ultimate glory! Besides her talent and skill set, the young shuttler’s ability to flourish under pressure has been truly impressive for experts.

Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand has been fulsome in his appreciation for Anmol’s fearless play at the Asian championships. After her terrific wins, Gopichand gushed that “her emergence is refreshing for Indian badminton.” He also claimed that Anmol’s victories are a “testimony that she can beat top players. To take the pressure on and show that kind of nerve is very refreshing. She is fearless, reads the game well and is naturally brave and intelligent”.

Even before her phenomenal run in the past week, Anmol's career was studded with several noteworthy feats and milestones that underscore her prowess on the badminton court. Born in January 2007 in Faridabad, Anmol took to badminton just by chance. In 2017, her advocate father Devender Kharab and a group of neighbours built a cement badminton court at their residential complex mainly for her brother Hardik. But when he decided to concentrate on his studies, Anmol who was fascinated by the shuttle sport, took it up big time.

As her father recently recalled, Anmol, then just 10, took such a fancy for the sport that she wouldn’t let anyone else play on the court until she first got a game!

Given Anmol’s deepening interest in the sport, her parents started encouraging her and got her enrolled for proper coaching. Her father remembers that after a few sessions, even her first coach predicted that she would go far in the sport. Though the results were a bit slow in coming, Anmol got to the finals in her first state championships but lost in the quarters of her first U-13 nationals and was ousted early even at the U-15 nationals.

With strong familial support, Anmol rose through the junior ranks. Her father, Devender Singh, a former kabaddi player and her mother Rajbala have been instrumental in nurturing her talent. They soon shifted her training base to the Sunrise Shuttlers Academy in Noida where her mother now stays by her side all through her tough training sessions everyday.

Under the guidance of her coach Kusumm Singh, Anmol has made rapid strides in recent years. In 2019, Anmol registered significant successes as she reached the quarters in the Under-13 category at the Sub-Junior Nationals in Bhagalpur.

Later that year, she also entered the finals of the Under-17 and Under-19 Junior Nationals at Bhubaneshwar. Her breakthrough season came in 2021 when she finally became the U-15 champion. Besides reaching the pre-quarters of the Asian Juniors in Indonesia, Anmol also claimed the U-17 title at the Sub-Junior Nationals in Hyderabad.

Beyond her exquisite strokeplay and fighting spirit, Anmol is putting in a very special effort to scale peak fitness, a must for success in top-class badminton globally. Every morning, she wakes up at 5 am and heads to a park in Faridabad where a former international boxer takes physical training classes. She’s one of around 40 kids but is the only badminton player and reflects Anmol’s dedication and determination to enhance the power quotient in her game.

Last December, Anmol Kharb took the badminton world by storm as she clinched the title at the senior nationals. The vivacious teenager who regards Saina Nehwal as her inspiration is flattered by the comparisons with her idol.

As former national coach Vimal Kumar said after the triumph at the Asian Championships on Sunday, “This girl reminds me of young Saina Nehwal - fearless, gritty, determined.” Indeed, for most connoisseurs of the shuttle sport, Anmol’s no-holds-barred approach and her steely resolve bring back memories of vintage Saina who shattered the Chinese hegemony in world badminton.

After her crucial role in securing Indian women’s title triumph at the Badminton Asia Team Championships, expectations from the 17-year-old prodigy from Haryana have risen sky-high. As she effortlessly matched and outsmarted older and higher-ranked opponents, it sure seemed that badminton’s elite level is exactly where the teenage sensation belongs. Anmol’s performance at the Asia Championships has been a huge, most pleasant surprise and bodes well for the future of Indian badminton. As she focuses on playing more BWF events and hopes to soon break into the top 100, Anmol Kharb seems set to be the next superstar of Indian badminton!