India Open 2025: Anupama wins next gen battle against Rakshitha but her journey has just begun

India Open 2025: Anupama wins next gen battle against Rakshitha but her journey has just begun

When they came off the court at KD Jadhav Stadium on Wednesday, you might have thought Rakshitha Ramraj and Anupama Upadhyaya might have just come off a friendly hit at the park rather than a battle to determine who would compete in the second round of women’s singles competition at the India Open, a BWF World Tour 750 event.

At the mixed zone, they laughed and posed for pictures together. The one bit of rancour was entirely in jest.

“I was a little injured for the past one month because I was having back pain,” complained Rakshitha who lost 17-21, 18-21. “I only started playing a week ago. My stamina was zero because I was almost entirely sitting at home. I only started training for this tournament. And this girl (Anupama) knew it! She knew this and kept on making me run all over the court! She knew it!” Rakshitha scolded her opponent in the post-match mixed zone.

“Aye, you know the courts are damn slow. Everyone is playing a rally (style game) only,” Anupama countered.

“You knew I was injured!,” repeated Rakshitha.

“I had to play rally only! Everyone is playing that way,” said Anupama.

The goodwill shared between the two is unmistakable and it’s not hard to see why. At 17, Rakshitha is the youngest competitor in the women’s singles draw of the India Open. But Anupama is only a couple of years older. Both of them train together at the Gopichand Academy.

“We play together and train together. We stay together at the academy as well. When we go to tournaments, we are together as well. So, we always enjoy and dance and watch reels together. We even go and do shopping together. (On the court) We have played each other quite a few times, right from the juniors, and now we are competing against each other at the senior level. It’s really good to have a friend or partner who is going to the same academy also. So, it’s really nice to play against her,” Anupama said after the match.

The two are together at one of India’s finest finishing academies because coach Pullela Gopichand believes they have the talent to solve what could potentially be one of Indian badminton’s biggest headaches – who will fill the massive shoes of Saina Nehwal and eventually, PV Sindhu.

They aren’t the only ones believed to have that ability. Anmol (Kharb), who was part of the Indian team that won gold at the 2023 Asian Team Championships, and Shreyanshi Pardeshi, are also part of the training set up at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

While Rakshitha has been training at the Gopichand academy for the past five years, Anupama, originally from Almora in Uttarakhand, is a relatively new addition. She was training at the National Center of Excellence in Guwahati, before shifting to Hyderabad late last year.

“I think the problem I was facing in Guwahati was that I was mostly training alongside juniors. At the Gopichand Academy, we have players like Rakshitha, Shreyanshi, Anmol. Every day of training feels like a competition. That’s how you are improving each day. I also felt I needed a mentor and Gopi sir is the perfect example of that. He comes each morning at 5 o’clock. He trains us and feeds us as well and he keeps on telling us what to do and what not to do. During the competition, he tells us what to play and tells us what went wrong when we lose. He lets us feel that when things go wrong, it will all be ok,” Anupama said.

The girls know what is expected of them – “ Slowly, all of us are coming up. There is a queue of us. Right now, we are just trying to get the experience of playing at this level,” said Anupama.

Among the girls in Hyderabad, Rakshitha and Anupama are considered the brightest prospects. Anupama won the senior national title as an 18-year-old and has previously been the number one junior in the world. Both have entirely different role models – Anupama favours Carolina Marin, while Rakshitha is a fan of Tai Tzu Ying. They have very different styles of play – if Anupama wears down opponents with dogged retrieving, the solidly built Rakshitha bullies past opponents with her strength and power.

That clash of styles made for a riveting match and although it was the senior player who pulled ahead at decisive moments in both games, both Anupama and Rakshitha had high praise for each other.

“I would say Rakshita’s smash power is really good. Her footwork is really strong as well. There were so many times that I have hit a tap and she’s managed to push it back. Her defence is strong, her smash is really good and her drops from the middle court are very deceptive,” Anupama said.

Rakshitha was effusive with her praise for her compatriot as well. “Anupama’s defense is extremely strong. She hit back all the shuttles I was hitting. She just retrieves everything. That is like the worst part about her. She just doesn’t leave any shuttle and keeps on taking all my shots and returning them,” she said in exasperation.

Both, the year and their career, are in early days right now, and both Anupama and Rakshitha have high expectations for how things will play out. “I want to perform well at the BWF World Tour 750 and 1000 series, win a World Tour 300 series this year, and hopefully compete at World Championships,” said Rakshitha.

While Rakshitha has a high ceiling, it is perhaps Anupama who might start showing results earlier – if only since she’s further along in her development as a player. She’s already competed at a BWF World Tour 750 event at the China Open last year and another earlier this year in Malaysia.

“Last year also, I played my first 750 World Tour event at the China Open and I won my first match against Beiwen Zhang. That really gave me a lot of motivation that I’m equal to them and have the same speed and compatibility against them. This year, I also played against Pornpawee Chochuwong (where she lost a three-game encounter against the World number 14) at the Malaysia Open. I also played well at the Malaysia Open. I could have won that match but I had stomach pain before the game and I was vomiting as well. I could have done better but overall, I did like how I played in the first couple of games,” she said.

Anupama hopes she will go further into the ongoing event in the national capital. She will be up against another highly rated prospect – the 18-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki, who is currently World Number 11.

It’s not going to be the easiest encounter for Upadhyaya, currently World number 43, but she knows this is the level she wants to be at. “My goal for this year is to raise my standard of playing at this level so I can compete regularly against the Top 10 players in the world. Last year, I wasn’t even good enough to play at the India Open. I was just watching everyone play while sitting in the stands. So, it’s great that I can play here now,” she said.