CHENNAI: She had intentions of joining a tennis academy but stumbled upon a badminton centre instead. She went on to shine as singles specialist in the junior circuit but was almost on the verge of quitting the sport due to a career-threatening injury. Heaping on her misery, her father tragically passed away around the same time. Life has been anything but certain for shuttler Kavipriya Selvam.
And yet she endured it all and is on the cusp of playing the biggest match of her young career at the elite level.
After ticking the right boxes for the last two years or so, the shuttler from Puducherry is set to make her maiden appearance in the upcoming BWF World Championships alongside partner Simran Singhi, who's a year older than her.
Given the cruel twist of fate, being part of the upcoming marquee event is a welcome blessing for her. She's naturally amped up and there's a tinge of nervous energy as well, but she's ready to express herself with Simran by her side in New Delhi. "Training is going well. Given that this is our first World Championships, I'm a little nervous," Kavipriya, who has been primarily focussing on building her strength, said.
The Indian women's pair will begin their sojourn against Spanish combination of Nikol Carulla and Carmen Maria Jimenez in the marquee event, which is scheduled to begin on Monday.
Her foray into badminton had begun by chance in her hometown. After seeing Sania Mirza make headlines, her mother, Santhana Lakshmi, had initially wanted her to join a tennis academy close by but they had instead ended up joining a badminton academy instead. The reason? Tennis academy was closed on that particular day.
"It was a random thing (taking up badminton). I used to hit my brother (younger) often after classes. My mother wanted me to get into sport, any sport. One day, Sania didi (Mirza) won and it appeared in the newspaper. So we were searching for a tennis court. Our neighbour told us some tennis courts are nearby. We went for the admission but the tennis court was closed but there was a badminton court nearby, so I started playing badminton," the 23-year-old recalled with a smile.
Soon after taking up the sport, her racquet-wielding was visible as she started winning state and national titles before getting picked up by Sports Authority of India, who had facilitated her move to the renowned Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. Training under the peerless coach, things couldn't have been brighter for her then.
However, just as she was looking to transition to the elite level (singles), she had suffered an injury mid-match, which was later diagnosed to be level 4-level 5 disc bulge by the doctor. The injury was hard to digest for her young mind then. Seeing how distraught she was, her mother also felt the pain in equal measure then. That injury kept her out for a long while. In this period of great uncertainty, it was her mother, who has been the biggest source of strength in her life, who kept her going.
"I couldn't walk. I thought of quitting badminton then. It was depressing. She didn't give up on me. Everyday I used to say 'I don't want to do anything' as I couldn't walk. She used to carry me everywhere. She used to say 'no, it's okay, everything will change one day'," Kavipriya recalled.
"She will never give up on me. Actually, I lost my dad in 2023. She has been taking care of my brother and me. It was a highly difficult time for us. She's very strong."
She returned home before going to Visakhapatnam to train under Ruthvik Kiran (now her husband) for over a year. The pain went away slowly but the injury continued to haunt her for a while. "Gradually, I recovered. But I still had that fear, the back was like a nightmare for me."
Despite showing plenty of resolve to make her comeback, her powers in singles had waned considerably. Results had become hard to come by. "I didn't play for six to seven months then I started my rehab. It took me around 14 months or so to recover. I started playing again in singles but I couldn't reach finals, the performance was not like before. Then I stopped playing singles."
Her singles chapter might have been over but her badminton sojourn was just taking a new turn. She eventually found her second wind as she took up the doubles category. It didn't take her much time to transition as she soon started rediscovering her winning abilities. "I partnered with random players initially and medalled twice (bronze, silver). It was quite rapid so I shifted totally to doubles," Kavipriya, who now has been training under former India international Arun Vishnu at the Arundhati Arun Badminton Academy in Nagpur for a year or so, said.
Kavipriya and Simran, who's from Mumbai, had experienced instant success after joining hands for the first time together in August 2024, capturing the Lagos International Classics. The year 2025 was a learning curve as they started playing big-level tournaments — Super 500s, Super 750s, Super 1000 — on the BWF World Tour. This year has been promising for the pair as they were also part of the India squad in the Uber Cup. That was a good learning curve for both as they had the rare chance to interact with PV Sindhu. Though it came at a losing cause, Kavipriya had a noteworthy outing against a formidable Chinese pair while partnering Tanisha Crasto then. It certainly caught the attention of Sindhu. "Sindhu akka (sister) was telling me 'you played really well' after the match. She talked about my game and told me that I should be more aggressive and all that," she said.
The duo had attained career-high ranking of No 38 in June after some good wins at the Uganda International Challenge and Saint Denis Reunion Open. They still have a mountain to climb but Kavipriya, given her hellish ride not so long ago, is just grateful to be up and running. "She is more powerful than me and she plays well from the back court. I'm good in front of the net. We make a good combination," she said, when asked about their strengths inside the court.
The Worlds is the immediate challenge and they'll also be part of the Asian Games. In the long run, Kavipriya hopes their evolving partnership can take them to the Olympic stage one day.
Given her grit and ability to bounce back after knocks, that is not out of the realms.