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.