Who is Anmol Kharb, the badminton prodigy, whose game took India to the Badminton Asia Team Championships finals?

Indian women players entered the finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia on Saturday. Anmol Kharb was given the responsibility of defeating the world's 29th player Natsuki Nidaira and she lived up to the expectations by winning in 52 minutes, taking India to the final for the first time.

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Anmol Kharb, a resident of Faridabad, started playing badminton at the age of 9. Seeing the 17-year-old player, people will remember the initial days of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Although, she still has a lot to do but seeing her game, people believe that one day she will bring glory to the country.

'Anmol hates to lose'

Anmol's mother Rajbala says that her daughter has a hero-style personality. She doesn't like to lose. At the same time, his father Devender Kharb is a lawyer and former Kabaddi player gives credit for Anmol's fearlessness and courage to her mother. Rajbala also used to play sports. In Haryana, she used to compete with a pot on her head. Once, Anmol and her mother reached their hotel after walking two hours from the Goa tournament.

Anmol does training in Noida

Rajbala travels a distance of 80 km daily from Faridabad to Noida academy and takes bottles of fruit juice, lemonade, buttermilk and lassi to keep Anmol hydrated throughout the day. Anmol's father believes that in class 5, a class teacher made Anmol the class monitor and made her sit on the front bench. Since then she has always had to remain ahead of everyone like a leader.

Followed her older brother into badminton

Anmol started out as a speed skater, and she was good at it, but she also got injured. Due to which she was out. Then she followed her elder brother in badminton. Her brother was taking her to the badminton court. There she was playing badminton for fun. But his brother told his parents that he wanted to do engineering and Anmol took badminton seriously.

After that, Anmol was accompanied by her mother Rajbala Khabar. During Anmol's practice, her mother used to sit outside the academy all day. Rajbala decided not to let her daughter suffer due to her lack of strength and took her to a nearby facility for "physical fitness".

Anmol's daily routine

Anmol wakes up at 5 am, trains for an hour at the boxers den, has breakfast and then sleeps in the car during the one-and-a-half hour journey. "She's learnt to sleep anywhere. On staircases at tournaments, in the car, she can switch on and off as she likes," Rajbala said.

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Fan of Saina Nehwal

Being from Haryana, it is natural that Anmol is a fan of Saina Nehwal. But a glimpse of Saina is also seen in Anmol. Young Saina had broken China's dominance in world badminton. Like Anmol, Saina is also from Haryana but now lives in Hyderabad. She took a selfie with Saina Nehwal's photo at the Krishna Khaitan Junior Tournament in Panchkula. Like Nehwal, she has also won the Under-17 National Championship. Anmol is happy with the comparisons but is also clear about creating her own identity.