Just into his 11th year, B M Rahul Bharadwaj has already made waves even in higher age group badminton tournaments. If he keep up his progress rates, Rahul is indeed an emerging star of the future.
Quite agile and very fit, the youngster from the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy has achieved success not only in tournaments in the state and the country but even abroad.
Rahul took to badminton like a fish to water and once in, he has been doing exceedingly well.
He won all singles under-10 state ranking titles in 2009 and then followed it up by claiming all titles in the under-13 singles in 2011. That also included the state championships in Udupi where he was also the runner-up in doubles.
That surely inspired him and Rahul won his maiden international title in the under 13 boy’s singles category. He bagged the Israel Junior International badminton championships singles and doubles titles at Rishon le Zio, Tel Aviv.
He had a familiar adversary in his PPBA teammate Gulshan Kumar Karthikey in the final.
Rahul clinched a three setter at 18-21, 21-16, 21-12. And on the way to the final, he and Karthikey defeated players from China and Denmark in their quarter and semi-final matches.
Rahul topped his group after defeating top seed Fang Kai of China 23-21, 21-15 in the last eight and made people sit up and take notice. He then followed it up defeating third seeded Mads Thogersen of Denmark 21-18, 21-18 to reach the finals.
The icing on the cake came when Rahul and Karthikey combined to emerge as the Under 13 boys doubles champions toppling No 1 seeds Chen Chen Huang and Fang Kai of China 21-18, 24-22. Following that splendid showing, the PPBA sent Rahul for a training session in Indonesia at the Atik Jauhari Badminton Training Centre on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Late last year, in the 11th Union Bank of India National ranking sub-junior badminton tournament, Rahul and Kartikey clashed in the semi-final and the Delhi lad extracted revenge by defeating Kartikey. Nevertheless, Rahul was the No 9 seed and Karthikey was No 2. Considering the fact that he is just about 11, going so far was in itself an achievement.
Legendary badminton stars Prakash Padukone and Vimal Kumar have high hopes on Rahul Bhardwaj. “He is identified by the Olympic Gold Quest and is among hopefuls for the 2020 Olympic Games,” Vimal Kumar said.
With such legends to guide him, it will come as no surprise if Rahul takes the badminton scene by storm in the years to come. He surely has it in him.