Ruthvika-Rohan pair aims deeper runs in BWF World Tour

Ruthvika-Rohan pair aims deeper runs in BWF World Tour

Injuries curtailed Ruthvika Shivani Gadde’s journey to the promised heights, while Rohan Kapoor could not find a perfect on-court partner, but, now, together they are eyeing glory days in the mixed doubles category.

A year since their partnership began, Gadde and Kapoor have emerged as the second-best mixed doubles pair in India, currently ranked 37th in the world. Now, Rohan’s focus is on ensuring their partnership remains intact, aiming for deeper runs in the BWF World Tour.

“As soon as I get into the top 32 or 35, either my partner quits or gets injured. So it’s been tough, but I’m still motivated,” said Rohan. “Now that Ruthvika is with me, I’m hoping that we stay together in the top-30 and continue this journey.” The duo will take on Chinese Taipei’s Po Yu Lai and Xiao Min Lin in their opening round of the USD 240,000 Thailand Masters Super 300 tournament on Tuesday.

“It’s been exactly one year since I decided to shift,” Ruthvika said in an interaction during the India Open. “But with Rohan, I started playing internationals since April. So, it’s been 6-8 months that we’ve actually aimed for something big.” She continued, “Initially, when we started off, the main goal was to win nationals and then win challenges. After achieving that, we wanted to aim a little higher. I’m injury-free now, and I want to continue playing at the highest level.” In less than a year, Rohan and Ruthvika have won two India International Challengers in Raipur and Telangana, and also reached the finals in Turkey. The pair also reached the semifinals at the Odisha Masters Super 100 last December.

“We’re trying to compete at the highest level, so it’s not going to be easy for her,” Rohan explained.

“If our goal was just to win challenges, she’s already there. But if we want to reach the first round, second round, quarter-finals, or semi-finals, especially in 750 and 500 events, then we need to work hard.

“Once we start pulling out close matches, you can see the difference automatically. So, we’re working hard.” Rohan, 27, has had success with multiple partners in his career.

He reached world No. 34 with Kuhoo Garg and world No. 30 with N Sikki Reddy, but these partnerships didn’t last long. He has also played men’s doubles with MR Arjun, Vighnesh Devlekar, K Nandagopal, Saurabh Sharma, and B Sumeeth Reddy.

For Ruthvika, it has been a tough journey. She was forced to switch to doubles to keep her dreams alive of representing the country.

In 2016, she was poised for greater heights after recording an upset win over PV Sindhu at the South Asian Games final, claiming individual gold and a team gold. She also played a key role in India’s bronze medal at the Uber Cup that year.

Ruthvika also won a maiden BWF Grand Prix title at the 2016 Russian Open, but injuries derailed her career soon after.

A knee injury early in 2017 slowed her progress, and while she bounced back to win the Tata Open International Challenge later that year, frequent injuries hindered her.

“I had a lot of injuries, and in December 2022, I underwent ankle surgery. While playing in Malaysia, I fell and broke my ankle. After surgery, I tried to return to singles, but for that, I needed more range in my ankle to cover the court,” Ruthvika recalled.

“It wasn’t happening, so I decided to try something different.” Looking ahead, the duo is aiming for top-30 ranking and continued success in bigger tournaments.

“We’re aiming for the top-30. Our main goal is to win matches at the highest level. We’ve been winning a few matches in Super 100s, but we want to win more in 300s, 500s, and 750s,” Ruthvika said.