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Home > Sports News > Other Sports News > Article > Playing Saina PV in the span of 10 days pays off for Malvika

Playing Saina, PV in the span of 10 days pays off for Malvika

Updated on: 13 October,2022 11:30 AM IST  |  Mumbai
Sundari Iyer |

Young shuttler Malvika Bansod now aims to enter Top 50 of world rankings

Playing Saina, PV in the span of 10 days pays off for Malvika

Malvika Bansod in action during her 21-17, 21-9 win over Saina Nehwal at Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2022 at IG Stadium, Delhi earlier this month. PIC/Badminton Association of India

Malvika Bansod, 20, played two of India's biggest badminton stars - Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu - in a short span of 10 days at two different tournaments and is happy for the experience.


In Round Two of the India Open (January 13) she defeated her idol Nehwal 21-17, 21-9, while she couldn’t manage a similar result against Sindhu, who beat her 13-21, 16-21 in the January 23 final of the Syed Modi International.


Though Bansod lost to Aakarshi Kashyap (World No.56) 12-21, 15-21 in the quarter-finals of the India Open, her rankings have seen a rise. She is now 67 in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.


On Saturday, Bansod lost to Unnati Hooda 22-24, 22-24 in the semis of the Odisha Open. 

Talking about her experience of playing Nehwal and Sindhu, Bansod told www.mid-day.com "Of course, I didn't expect it. But it has been a great learning experience for me. I was very happy after winning the match against Saina [Nehwal]. I also got to learn a lot from the match against Sindhu. I am very lucky to have got this unique opportunity to play against two star players in such a short span of time. My experience at the India Open was enriching. I got to play against my idol and also win. It was the first time I played a Super 500 event, so I was really excited. I won against Aakarshi [ defeated her 21-11, 21-11 in quarters] at the Syed Modi Super, my first Super 300 tournament, quite convincingly. I won the silver medal in the tournament, so I am very happy."

Bansod revealed that playing Nehwal and Sindhu has given a clearer picture of what she needs to do in order to improve her game. "While playing against them [Saina and Sindhu] has been a great experience, they showed me that there is always scope for improvement," explained the Nagpur-based shuttler, who aims to enter the Top 50 of the BWF rankings. 

When asked about the turning point of her career, Bansod, a first-year BE (Computer Science) student at SRM University in Chennai, said: "I think my back-to-back victories in 2019 at the Maldives and Nepal international tournaments [Maldives was her debut tournament in senior internationals] was the turning point. I won against the then World No.70 [Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar 21-13, 21-11] and had shown great merit as I was still a junior player then [18 years]," said Bansod.

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