Nagpur shuttler Rohan Gurbani is new National Under-17 boys singles champion

NAGPUR: When you are in form, make it count. Rohan Gurbani is doing exactly that.
The last few months have been very productive for Rohan. First, he annexed the U-17 boys singles title at the All India Sub-Junior Ranking tournament at Raipur in October. Then, he jumped to become India No. 1 in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) U-17 boys singles rankings last month.
On Sunday in Bengaluru, he perhaps won the most important title of his life when he triumphed at the Sub-Junior (U-15 and U-17) National Championship.
The top seed trounced No. 15 seed Shubham Patel of Rajasthan 21-12, 27-25 in 40 minutes. The sixteen-year-old city lad was in his elements from the beginning. He won the first game quite comfortably at 21-12 to put his rival under pressure.
However, giant-killer Shubham bounced back in the second game and threatened to take the match into the decider. However, Rohan did not let go the advantage and claimed the extended second game at 27-25 to clinch the title.
Rohan, who now trains at the Bengaluru-based Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA), had won three All India Ranking tournaments before.
A couple of months ago, he won his first title in the U-17 section at Raipur. Earlier in the U-15 category, he had grabbed two titles at Gulbarga and Patna.
An ecstatic Rohan termed the victory as a major landmark in his career so far.
"When the tournament started I really did not expect it to win. The competition was very tough as only the best players of India participated in the Nationals. There is no qualifying and I had to win seven matches in main draw to emerge champion. I was focussed and wanted to give my best without feeling any pressure," Rohan told TOI from Bengaluru.
Rohan, a Standard X student of Centre Point School, Katol Road, admitted that he is benefiting a lot by training at the world-class PPBA.
"I want to thank my parents, PPBA Academy coaches and physios for this achievement. I will also like to thank my former coach Ajay Dayal, who guided me throughout this tournament as Maharashtra coach," he added.
Rohan's road to triumph
Round 2: Beat Punshiba Yengkhom (Manipur) 13-21, 21-6, 21-10 (43 minutes)
Round 3: Beat Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu (Telangana) 21-13, 21-13 (20 minutes)
Round 4: Beat Gautam Walia (Haryana) 21-12, 21-16 (27 minutes)
Quarterfinal: Beat 7-Abhinn Vasisth (Haryana) 21-9, 19-21, 21-16 (52 minutes)
Semifinal: Beat 9-Tukum Laa (Manipur) 21-16, 16-21, 21-12 (55 minutes)
Final: Beat 15-Shubham Patel (Rajasthan) 21-12, 27-25 (40 minutes).