Aahna Bhatia just isn’t fazed by something as she navigates a fast rise by the badminton ranks.
The 15-year-old had an unimaginable 2024 at junior degree, profitable two U17 tournaments together with the French Open.
With two silver medals at senior degree below her belt, Bhatia is now becoming a member of the senior Badminton England squad for coaching every week, on high of her typical periods along with her coach Alex Lane.
Ranked ninth within the nation in girls’s singles, {the teenager} is embracing the velocity of her progress as she turns into a reputation to observe.
“I took up full-time coaching, which was an enormous step for me,” Bhatia stated.
“However I’ve discovered it actually enjoyable to step into this new chapter of my life the place I can expertise new gamers and new kinds of coaching.
“It may be nerve-racking typically [playing against older players] but it surely offers me a number of probabilities to attempt new issues.
“There’s no stress on my again so it’s all the time enjoyable to experiment with how I play.
“Seeing how they play I’m capable of be taught from them and their functionality in sustaining a match at a excessive depth.”
Bhatia began taking part in badminton when she was six years previous after being impressed watching her older sister play.
The promising shuttler started taking part in the game as an after-school interest earlier than it turned a every day staple in her life.
“Long term, I feel it might be nice to go to the Olympics or play within the All England,” she stated.
“These kinds of tournaments are unimaginable experiences in a badminton profession.
“Within the short-term I’ll hopefully get chosen for the World Junior Championships for the subsequent few years.”
A giant focus for Bhatia is the U17 European Championships this yr, however she’s going to proceed to step up and compete at U19 degree.
“I’m excited. I’ve been working exhausting to get chosen for it [Under 17 European Championships].
“Will probably be a great match for me to play as a result of it’s the highest gamers from round Europe and it’ll set my place to see the place I’m towards them.
“It would set me a path to progress in my badminton profession.”
Bhatia and coach Alex are hopeful that she’s going to obtain her objective of profitable a senior worldwide match while she continues to be a junior participant.
“I’ve had a number of ups and downs in addition to doubts in my profession however profitable the Below 15 Spanish Worldwide in Ibiza in 2022 actually set the usual for myself,” she stated.
“It gave me a lift of confidence in my coaching from that time on.”
Bhatia has loved travelling the world by competing and has particularly loved Ibiza and Croatia.
The younger participant hopes to journey to Asia subsequent as she want to expertise a spread of recent cultures.
Bhatia cites 2024 Olympic gold medallist An Se-young of South Korea as an enormous inspiration for herself.
“She began taking part in competitively at a really younger age and I feel she actually exhibits how the youth of badminton can develop.”
With the transfer to full-time coaching Bhatia is grateful for the robust help she has acquired each in her schooling and in her badminton profession.
“Badminton is sort of an intense sport, pushing my physique to its limits in a really quick period of time could be robust.
“Now I’m in senior faculty, the encouragement and the setting actually helps me to push me to my limits and progress.”
