On the road: The badminton parents

Dev S Sukumar

HAVING lost in straight games to Saina Nehwal in the final of the All India Union Bank junior badminton tournament in Bangalore last week, Maharashtra 's Aditi Mutatkar sat by herself in a corner of the stadium and wept quietly. Her mother, after a measured length of time, finally went up, sat beside her, and had a quiet word.

Meanwhile, Balan, father of Kerala's Aparna -- who'd earlier lost to Aditi in the semifinal -- was ruing his daughter's missed chances. "Too many mistakes," he kept saying. He couldn't hide the heaviness in his heart.

How could he, helplessly watching from the sidelines as his daughter lost point after point?

It was a mild knock on his dream, and who would know of his anguish but himself?

But the dream wasn't exclusive to him. There were 650 participants at the tournament, and perhaps as many parents. With three tournaments one after the other -- at Pune, Bangalore and Chennai – hopes rolled in and out of town on trains and buses.

There are around 10 tournaments a year for the juniors, and it's now as much of a circuit for the parents as for their children. It requires planning, professionalism, lots of sacrifice. So what if they aren't as well known as a Richard Williams or a Yuri Sharapov?

Aditi's parents, for instance, overhauled their lives to help her career. They were in Mumbai, and it was just too much effort and time to balance her studies and training. Travel within the city itself was taking four hours daily. So the family shifted to Pune. Aditi's mother Aparna Mutatkar quit her teaching job; her father got a transfer. The family sorely missed Mumbai; most of Aparna's friends were still there. "We've taken this decision because we want Aditi to realise her dreams," she says. It was a critical investment, but it's working, since Aditi is one of the most promising players around. Still, to make that decision when she was just 13, called for verve.

She accompanies her daughter to most of the National-level tournaments, which means she's away from home half the year. Her in-laws manage the home when she isn't around.

Typically, parents of sportspersons have been portrayed as naggers, constantly pushing their kids to ensure their money isn't wasted. That might be true, but there's more to the story. At the junior level, parents are indispensable on the circuit: they combine the role of physio, shrink and confidant.

Ask Sagar Chopda. The teenager from Mumbai is thankful to have either his father or mother accompany him: “Badminton is an individual game, and you're all alone out there on court. But having my parents around gives me confidence. Both are doctors, so if I have an injury, they can treat me… It's also a lot of sacrifice. They have to compromise on their jobs; they can't accommodate patients during the tournaments.”

Parental presence is crucial particularly in the case of girls. Balan is apprehensive of people who might take advantage of them. “I've heard stories of coaches and senior players abusing juniors in other sports,” he says. “Luckily, that doesn't happen in badminton. Still, why take a chance?”

Balan spends, like other badminton parents, almost half a year on his daughter's trail. It's almost a full-time occupation, and during the tournaments, he has to ensure she's well cared-for. “During the last tournament, her matches finished by 12 at night, and she hadn't eaten. None of the officials had bothered to ask her. I had to somehow get food for her at that time.”

Players who win prize money manage to break even. For the parents, each tournament is a drain on their resources.

Besides, it's all work and no play. Milind Karmarkar, who has a corrugated box manufacturing unit in Goregaon, was on his first trip to Bangalore . He couldn't go sight-seeing, however. His son Sushrut's coach Uday Pawar had advised him to watch all the matches.

Many of the parents are close to each other; coordinating for accommodation and travel. The parents of Pune's Aditi, Sayali Gokhale and Sampada Sahasrabudde, for example, stick together during tournaments. It's a curious bond, which must remain unaffected even as their kids slug it out on court. As Aparna Mutatkar says, she might have had to sacrifice relationships in Mumbai, but she has discovered new ones on the circuit.