Young titans: The Telugu champions shaping the Indian sports landscape

(May 24, 2023) In the realm of sports, the Telugu region has become a breeding ground for exceptional talent, producing individuals who have defied odds, shattered barriers, and etched their names in the annals of sporting history. This is a tale that celebrates the indomitable spirit and remarkable achievements of Telugu sports stars. Through their dedication, perseverance, and unwavering determination, these individuals have become beacons of inspiration, captivating the hearts and minds of millions across the nation. Global Indian explores the journeys of badminton champs Gayatri Gopichand and Satwik Rankireddy, boxer Nikhat Zareen, who has carved herself a place in history, athlete Jyothi Yarraji who battled great odds to rise to break the national record and the decorated young US-golfer Sahith Theegala, who copes with scoliosis but never lets it hamper his game.

Nikhat Zareen

Nikhat Zareen

“Who is Nikhat Zareen?” The Olympian’s dismissive response to the then 22-year-old Zareen cut the young boxer quite deeply. Zareen was already a Youth World Champion and wanted the Indian Boxing Federation to conduct trials for the Olympic team selections. Kom, who was looking forward to what would likely be her final rendezvous with the Olympics, was not happy, snubbing Zareen for her request. Still, Zareen refused to show weakness. She  had always been used to fighting great odds – she is from Telangana, a region without a boxing culture unlike Manipur or Haryana. She was also a Muslim – female Muslim boxers don’t come around too often in India.

Today, Nikhat Zareen is a two-time world champion, the winner of the gold at the 2011 AIBA Women’s Youth & Junior World Boxing Championships, the 2022 Istanbul and 2023 New Delhi IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. She also bagged the gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Born on June 14, 1996 to Mohammad Jameel Ahmed and Parveen Sultana in Nizamabad, Zareen studied at Nirmala Hrudaya Girls’ High School. It was her father, Jameel, who introduced her to boxing and trained her for a year. “It’s true that not everyone in the neigbourhood or even the family were supportive. They would say it is wrong and it would spoil her marriage prospects. But I never let Nikhat worry about these things. I wanted her to do her best. People always talk. If you stop and listen to what everyone has to say, you won’t go very far,” Jameel said.

As she progressed, there weren’t too many girl competitors at her level, and she would go up against older boys. She moved ahead rapidly and at 14, won her first international gold at the Youth World Championships.

Nikhat Zareen is proud of her roots and her faith, performing a sajdah at the New Delhi World Championships and saying that she would use her prize money to send her parents on the Haj pilgrimage. “I come from a middle class family. I come from a minority community where girls don’t always get the opportunity to take up sports. Boxing has given me freedom,” Zareen said.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

In 2018, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy stormed their way to a historic victory at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, bagging a gold at the Mixed Team event and the men’s double silver. That year, they also won top honours in the Hyderabad Open BWF Tour Super 100 tournament, beating their Akbar Bintang and Reza Pahlevi Isfahani from Indonesia.

Rankireddy was born in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, into a family legacy. His father was a state-level player, as was his older brother, both of whom inspired him to begin playing. In 2014, he enrolled at the Pullela Gopichand Academy and became a doubles specialist. In 2016, his coach, Kim Tan Her paired him with Chirag Shetty, creating a winning team.

The duo has won five international series titles. Rankireddy also has a strong partnership with Ashwini Ponnappa in the mixed doubles category.  They began 2022 by winning the Indian Open and were part of India’s Thomas Cup team, a victory achieved through great determination, as they started out by losing the first game.

Rankireddy was given the Arjuna Award for badminton in August 2020.

Gayatri Gopichand

Gayatri Gopichand

From the moment she decided on a career in badminton, Gayatri Gopichand had very big shoes to fill. Both her parents are renowned shuttlers – her father, Pullela Gopichand won the England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, the second Indian after Prakash Padukone. Her mother, P.V.V. Lakshmi, is an eight-time Indian national Telugu champion and an Olympian who represented India at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She also won the bronze at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Gayatri entered the fray with the best kind of backing, including being able to enroll at her parents’ state-of-the-art academy, the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. She was initiated early and had the chance to observe and even train with India’s reigning champs like Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu.

By the age of 15, Gayatri had an all-India ranking of No. 1 in the under-17 age group in India. In 2018, she became the youngest member to be part of an Indian Asian Games badminton contingent and went with them to the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games, although she didn’t actually get any game-time that year.

Until the pandemic, Gayatri had trained as a singles player. In 2021, however, acting on the advice of her father and coach, Arun Vishnu, she tried the doubles game, teaming up with Treesa Jolly. “When the coaches saw our game styles, they thought that putting us together was the best,” Gayatri told The Hindu. That year, they became runners-up at the Polish International and their star only rose from there, as they reached the Syed Modi International final in 2022 and bagged the BWF World Tour Title.

“Now, I feel I can play anyone. Off Court, they are all legends and all  but on court, everyone is equal and you just have to give your best,” Gayatri said.

Jyothi Yarraji

Jyothi Yarraji

Jyothi was in class 10 when she took her first strides towards being an athlete. She had no idea how she would go about it, either. It was a late start and a far-fetched idea for a poor girl in Vishakapatnam. “My father is a security guard and my mother is a cleaner in hospitals. I’d always been told the path to come out of that was through studies.” In class 10, encouraged by her P.E teacher, she decided to give it a go.

She started out with a pair of inexpensive jogging shoes (spikes were out of the question) and just a few months into formal training, won a gold in the state-level 100m. “I used to feel good when I started running. It made me feel like I didn’t have time to waste. It made me feel that I was doing something important,” Jyothi said. Still, her decision was looked upon with great disapproval. The neighbours raised their eyebrows because she was “being sent to run outside. Why is she running in knickers and a banian? Why is she talking to boys,” they would ask. Her mother stood by her.

Today, the Telugu champion hurdler holds the national record of 13.04 seconds, which she broke three times in 2022. She also represented India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and at the Indian National Games that year, won the gold in the 100-metres and the 100-metres hurdles. In October, Jyothi became the first Indian woman hurdler to clock below 13 seconds. She did even better in 2023, breaking the national record for the 60-metres hurdle five times. She also won the Silver in the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships at Astana.

Sahith Theegala

Sahith Theegala

Only two weeks ago, in May 2023, Sahith Theegala made headlines for a superb left-handed shot at the Wells Fargo Championship at the 16th hole. It was a perfect shot and the audience roared its approval, more so because Sahith Theegala is not left-handed. “Absolutely fantastic,” the commentators said and even Theegala’s caddie was impressed.

The US-based golfer, who hails from Hyderabad, has had a strong year, making his presence felt on the PGA Tour as he rose from outside 300 to 30 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Theegala had always loved the sport, even as a child, and even though he suffers from scoliosis (a curvature of the spine). A the age of five and six, he would cry when it was time to leave the golf course. At the age of six, he won the Junior World Championship and went to study at Pepperdine University, known for its sports teams. In January 2020, he won the Haskins Award, the Ben Hogan Award and the Jack Niklaus Award, becoming the fifth player in the history of US golf to win all three Player of the Year honours.