For Meena Sharma, mother of world junior badminton silver medallist Tanvi Sharma, the love for a game she played in college, but couldn’t pursue seriously, needed both an outlet and an outcome. So the single mother from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, a physical education teacher, took it upon herself to turn badminton coach for her children, ensuring 16-year-old Tanvi ended up with a podium finish at the World Junior Championships in Guwahati.
It’s for this that, in Punjab, Meena is called the ‘Mahaveer Phogat of badminton’, a reference to the father who defied the odds for his wrestler daughters and whose story inspired the Bollywood hit Dangal.
Family finances were often stretched but the mother somehow ensured that Tanvi and her sister Radhika, a national-level shuttler, continued to play the expensive sport. “Initially, she just wanted us to stay fit and never watch TV. So she got us started in a sport. Badminton was very expensive and I don’t know how she must have managed alone. But it was her dream that we play in the Olympics and World Championships. She had a talent for many sports but didn’t pursue any because of us. Instead, she became a coach herself and taught us both,” recalls Radhika.
Back in the day, Meena was a volleyball player but also dabbled in cricket and badminton. Her own sporting experience made her certain that she didn’t want her daughters to take up a team sport. “It had to be an individual sport. She had stopped playing sports in 2000 and we started around 2013, but we knew she had sacrificed her career for us,” says Radhika.
The mother’s hard work paid off and Radhika got into the Gopichand academy. It was here that Meena meticulously kept notes on training patterns and schedules of Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap. With time, Meena shifted her focus from Radhika to Tanvi, who was bringing quick results.
Like Saina’s mother Usharani, Meena would lace up her trainers and be the sparring partner-cum-coach for her daughter. She studied shuttle trajectories, analysed opponents, planned nutrition charts, learnt recovery techniques and offered Tanvi the first push to dream big.
Tanvi Sharma (Extreme left) poses with her silver medal at the Badminton World Junior Championships. (Credit: Badminton Photo)
Tanvi recalls those early days on court with her mother and sister when she was too young to be left alone at home. “One day, just to kill time, I snatched my sister’s racquet and insisted that my mother teach me to serve,” she says.
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The focus was on Radhika, but very early on, Tanvi’s wrist skill became apparent. “My drops were better than my sister’s,” she says. They were better than almost everyone in her category.
Education for the sisters mostly meant watching videos of Saina and Sindhu. “We went to an ICSE school, and they were very supportive. They would keep our notes updated so we never lagged behind. There was no pressure of studies,” Radhika recalls.
Tanvi began winning titles early, even though much of her training was as a tough sparring opponent for her sister. “I would give her a good fight because I could roll my wrist and hit deceptive tosses from the back pretty early on. We would imagine a court at home even in the smallest of spaces, and play shadows of jump smashes,” Tanvi recalls.
That’s where Meena’s volleyball muscle memory came in handy. She taught both daughters to jump-smash. “She taught us smashes and tosses with variations and deceptions. My mother is the best coach to explain technique – from how to grip the racquet to playing strokes, she was really good,” Radhika says.
Tanvi, too, credits her mother for teaching her to smash. “She taught me to smash very early. I’m grateful for that,” she says. TV was mostly banned but Radhika recalls watching some of India’s biggest names contest for international titles. “Three of us would sit and watch them play. My mother believed we had to learn techniques from everyone, deception from Tai Tzu-Ying and attack from Sindhu,” Radhika says.
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Meena’s training wasn’t exactly backed by years of knowledge, but she knew that she had to systematically follow-up on plans and work long hours. “She is mostly chill as long as we are disciplined about training. But she has never allowed us to get carried away with our wins. She says, ‘You won, great. Now come down to earth. The target hasn’t been achieved yet.’ She would stress on practice, practice, practice,” she says.
“Everything good in badminton for me is because of sacrifices made by my mother and sister. I’ll never forget what they’ve done for me,” adds Tanvi.
Radhika says she never saw her mother lose heart. “She’s just a very strong woman. She is never down, or at least doesn’t show in her body language. If Tanvi loses a final, she says, ‘it’s okay, koi baat nahi, you can’t sit crying’. As a family, we are tight. If I am down, Tanvi and my mother motivate me, if she is down, then we keep her spirits high. On the court, she has a single piece of advice for any situation — keep the rally going,” she says.
