Before discovering his passion for badminton, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran loved his time in the pool, pursuing swimming as a kid.
It was only after he turned 11 that he fell in love with badminton after watching his cousin Arun Kumar play the sport. Slowly it grew into a passion and within three years, he was pursuing it seriously.
One man responsible for recognising his talent and polishing his skills is his coach Ajit Wijetilekk and Sathish acknowledged his long-time association with him after claiming his maiden BWF Super 100 title at Odisha Masters on Sunday.
“I was a swimmer and I really enjoyed it and was doing well till the age of 11. My cousin is a badminton player and I used to watch him play and I started to like it and so I shifted to badminton,” Sathish told PTI from Cuttack.
“By 14, I had started to play badminton professionally. I started my training under Venkatesh sir in Coimbatore, then I went to Malaysia briefly and now I am training with Ajit sir.
“Last three years I have shifted to Bangalore. Ajit sir was in Coimbatore. Once he shifted to Bangalore and so I also moved along with him and have been training at Ajit Wijetilekk School of Badminton in Bangalore.”
“I felt very comfortable training with him. They have a very good team. I have been training under him for close to 10 years,” said Sathish, who is now pursuing his MBA.
Now that he has claimed his first BWF title, Sathish, currently ranked 61, is keen to climb up the ranking ladder and has set an ambitious target of reaching the top 20 by the end of 2024.
“I had this target of hitting the top 50 by the end of this year, and I am happy I could do it. I am aiming for the top 10 but the top 20 is a compulsory target, I have to achieve it by next year,” he said.
Odisha Masters was his 11th straight tournament without a break and though he was happy to win the title, things looked a little bleak after he had a bad fall during the second-round match at Syed Modi International in Lucknow.
“I was well prepared for the last three tournaments as it was happening in India, I wanted to win at least a title. I was playing well in Syed Modi International as well but I fell during a match and had swelling in my fingers, so I was not able to hold the racquet.
“At Guwahati, I was not well so I couldn’t do much. I was not up to the mark, there was pain and I was not confident. I took an X-ray and then I did rehab and I felt better in this event, but I was tense today as it was my first super 100 final and I was not at my best.”
Born in Chennai, the 22-year-old Sathish had started doing well in the junior circuit, winning a bronze medal at the Junior Korea Open and the Junior national championships in 2019 in Bangalore. He was also part of the Indian team in the 2019 World Junior Championships and Asian Championships.
However, COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill and with it, his progression to the senior circuit got delayed.
“I didn’t stop training. My coach knows how to go about it. He was staying with me and we used to train inside. I didn’t miss much in COVID. But it is just that I started late participating in the senior tournaments. So, I started playing in the senior circuit in 2021.”
Sathish went on to finish runner-up in Ukraine International and Hungarian International in his first season in seniors, before claiming men’s titles at 2023 Cameroon International, where he also finished runner-up in mixed doubles with Aadya Variyath.
This season, Sathish won men’s singles titles at two India International Challenge in Bengaluru and Chhattisgarh and had a runner-up finish at Maldives International, where he won the mixed doubles crown with Aadya. Sathish and Aadya also won the 2023 Malaysia International.
“I am confident of my game. I just have to keep sticking to my routine and hopefully I will do well,” he signed off.
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