Badminton: Rituparna Das finally gets her due, called up for India's senior team

File photo: inners of women's and men's singles Rituparna Das and Sourabh Verma pose with the trophies at 81st Senior National Badminton Championship at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna.

Kolkata, Aug 12: Rituparna Das was being hailed as one of the most promising players for last four to five years.

However, the 20-year-old badminton player was not getting her dues. A key reason behind this was that she was not being able to break through in the world of international badminton.

But Rituparna's career on last Thursday (August 10) took a major boost as she got picked up into the senior Indian team for World Championship.

She became only the second Bengali female player after Madhumita Bist Goswami to get into the senior Indian squad for the forthcoming World Badminton Championship along with P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. Goswami represented India 18-years-ago at international level.

Rituparna is presently ranked 46th in the World, following her pre-quarterfinal defeat in the recently concluded US Open Grand Prix badminton championship.

The shuttler, who has been one of Pullela Gopichand's favorite students for last seven years, is naturally elated with the news.

Speaking over the phone from her residence at Hyderabad Rituparna said on Friday, "I did not believe truly that I would get a call for the World Championship. This has been great news for me."

Rituparna's coach Gopichand was also asked about the prospect of his student. The Dronacharya coach clarified, "Rituparna is basically a touch player. She has a variety of strokes. The only thing she lacks is power and fitness. Unless you make yourself properly fit and unless you accumulate power in your stroke you cannot compete with top international players. Rituparna needs fitness and power in her stroke."

The second year student revealed, "In a bid to regain strength and power in my strokes I have been running 400 meters and 200 meters on the track! Even, following Gopichand sir's instruction I have been doing sprint and a weight training also."

Rituparna's dream is to make an upset in the World Championship and it will be best if her opponent is Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Rituparna asserted, "My favorite player is Carolina Marin. I dream of a scenario where I am defeating Carolina Marin."