By Eleanor Wilson
Adi Singh may only be 11 years old, but he is hoping his love for badminton could take him all the way to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.
The St Margaret’s Berwick Grammar student first picked up the indoor sport five years ago, after recommendation from his father Rajesh Kumar, who had also played the sport socially growing up.
“We got him to try multiple sports like soccer, karate, tennis, Auskick,” Mr Kumar explained.
“We just wanted him to be introduced to different sports, so he could choose by himself what he liked.”
Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Under 13 State Badminton team, which will see him compete against the best young players in the country.
“At the start it was just for fun and then slowly I got more into it,” Adi reasoned.
“Then I felt like it was getting a bit more competitive and I started playing tournaments, and I set myself the goal of becoming the best player.”
While the racquet sport has increased in popularity in Australia in recent years, it remains one of the less popular sports for Aussies.
According to Badminton Australia, over 250,000 Australians currently participate in the sport.
“He’s doing great, this is definitely an achievement, coming to the state squad, but yeah, he needs to keep going and try to be the best in Victoria to start with,” Mr Kumar said.
While Adi says his short term goal is to become the best badminton player in the state, his long term goals are even larger.
“My main goal is to win the 2032 Olympics,” he said.
“That has been my goal ever since I watched the last Olympics and saw badminton as an Olympic sport.”
Adi trains five days a week at HP Badminton in Mount Waverley, and also works with a coach who helps him train to be the best he can be.
While mum Aarathi Nagajothi said he is very proud of her son’s badminton achievements, she hinted that she didn’t expect him to take to the sport as well as he did.
“In the beginning we had to push him a bit to get into a sport, but over the past year he has improved quite a bit and we were quite surprised,” she said.
“I felt bad for not expecting it!”
Adi will compete at the U13 National Championships in Ballarat in late September this year, where he hopes to bring home gold.
