CHENNAI: Eighteen-year-old Jerlin spoke volumes with her racquet, claiming three gold medals in the badminton event (Women’s Singles, Mixed Doubles and Team Event) at the 2022 Deaflympics in Caxias do Sul. Jerlin’s racquet is not only made out of strings and steel but of pure hard work and determination. Jerlin first experienced badminton at eight.
Those days, when her father Jayaratchagan took her to the local club in Madurai to watch his friends play, she was enchanted by the game. As he saw her eyes turn oblivious to everything else outside the court, Jayaratchagan took her to Saravanan, a badminton coach, to get her started. Saravanan was impressed with Jerlin’s interest but her training was not without challenges. “Jerlin was his first deaf student. It was difficult for Saravanan to bring Jerlin out of her zone.
Kids like her find it difficult to come out and start discovering new things, because of their inferiority complex,” Jayaratchagan explains. From there, her journey to the top has been long and rocky. Before international tournaments, she first had to take part in the state-level tournaments, facing players who were already part of the Indian Team. She got through all of them and was selected for the 2017 Turkey Deaflympics, where she at 13 years was the youngest participant ever.
However, Jerlin came back emptyhanded against seasoned, experienced athletes. In her next attempt at the Malaysia Deaflympics, she got her first couple of slivers. “In that one year, Jerlin worked hard. She trained in the mornings till the evenings. But those two silver medals were not enough for Jerlin,” says Jayaratchagan. At a young age, she had acquired the motivation and grit to be a winner, and her reward was waiting in the form of the Brazil Deaflympics at Caxias do Sul.
Jerlin’s route to the final started off with a win in the badminton team event for India, thanks to a fruitful partnership with Abinav Sharma. “Both of them contributed equally to India winning against Japan in the finals and bagged themselves a gold medal,” he recounts. Even as it looked certain that Jerlin would win her Singles’ gold medal, everyone had their doubts.
“However, reaching the semifinals, we had to face the opponent that Jerlin had lost to in the pevious Deaflympic tournament, Malaysia’s Wei Ying Boon. I was doubtful of Jerlin’s chances of winning,” he narrates. But Jerlin was not the 13-year-old who lost to Ying, but a 17-year-old who had her eyes set on the gold medal. Jerlin won the semis and advanced to the finals, where she faced Austria’s Katrin Neudolt. Jayaratchagan also recalls the day of the finals as his father’s death anniversary.
“It was a special day for me personally but I didn’t think it would go any better. Jerlin, in the finals, was a different beast.” Jerlin’s Deaflympic feat earned her a meet with the Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and an award of `75 lakh from the government. While her father is proud of Jerlin, he expresses his displeasure with the difference in prize money for the Olympic medallists, Paralympics and Deaflympics; he has raised an application to increase the same.
Jayaratchagan also acknowledges the impact Jerlin’s win has had on the deaf community. “Of course, Jerlin’s feat in Brazil would impact the deaf community. They would now be encouraged to take up badminton as a sport. When Jerlin plays a tournament next time, I am pretty sure that there would be more people cheering on for her.”