Boosted by her Orleans show, Baruah targets better on-court fitness ahead of Thomas & Uber Cup

KOLKATA: All Isharani Baruah used to do when she was very young was run around and play outside her house in Dibrugarh with the boys. And, one day, it made her mother very angry.“She just said, you must join some sports, and my neighbour asked me to sign up for badminton. After that, I joined Dibrugarh District Sports Association Badminton Academy,” recollected Baruah. She was just 10 years old then but has never looked back since then and, last month, the young shuttler made it to her first semifinal of BWF 300 event at Orleans Masters in France and will be part of the Indian squad at next month’s Thomas and Uber Cup.She did go down to Pitchamon Opatniputh in straight games in the last-four stage but is quite pleased with her performance where she beat the likes of Wen Yu Zhang of Canada and Denmark’s Amalie Schulz.“First of all, my speed on court and my shot selection in all the matches I played were really good. My attitude on the court was also positive. Of course, I felt I could have done better, but I’m happy with the way I performed,” said the 22-year-old.Having said that, she did struggle in the semifinals with her fitness and looked out of breath on several occasions.“Definitely, in the second set, I was quite tired. I want to improve my fitness and spend more time on court working on my skills. On-court fitness is very important for me, so I’ll focus on doing more drills, especially long rallies of 40–50 shots,” added Baruah, who has now risen to a career-high world No. 39.Besides the tournament in France, she also competed in the German Open, Thailand Masters, and Indonesia Masters earlier this year. She also took part in the PSPB Badminton Tournament and admitted that playing successive events makes it challenging.“Sometimes it’s quite difficult when there are two or three tournaments back-to-back because everyone is dealing with some kind of injury,” said Baruah before adding, “Even I have a bit of a knee issue, which comes and goes, so it’s not easy to manage, especially without physios. But of course, when I’m with the national team, we do have that support, which helps a lot.”However, for now her chief target is the Thomas and Uber Cup which will be held in Horsens, Denmark, from April 24 to May 3. Baruah knows she might not get to play but she can’t wait to be part of the tournament alongside PV Sindhu, who will be leading the team.As for her latter targets, she wants to make the squad for the Asian Games and the World Championships later this year. For that the youngster, who trains at Centre for Badminton Excellence in Bengaluru earlier known as Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, will have to work a lot and it’s something that she isn’t afraid of at all.