At an age where a majority of school-going kids are either busy clearing their homework, preparing for exams or playing hide-and-seek and other games with friends in the neighbourhood, Anika Dubey has already announced herself as the next big thing in Indian squash.
Not only is Dubey, a Pune resident, a three-time national junior champion in the sport, she had also competed at the Asian level earlier this year and is set for her maiden appearance in a global event in a month’s time. All of this at the age of 15.
The highlight of her career, which is still in its infancy, has been competing at the Asian Junior Team Championships in Korea in February. Dubey was part of an Indian team that progressed into the semi-finals by winning four out of five matches in the group stage, including against Japan and China, before losing to eventual winners Hong Kong.
For Dubey, it was a big step up from the national level, where she has already established herself as a champion, not once but multiple times. Which has justifiably earned her the moniker the ‘Golden Girl of Pune’.
“I think it was one of my first team events, the whole experience of going together with a team, that was really good. And I think I learned a lot of new things from there, like playing with the international, Asian level kids, all older than me,” Dubey told Firstpost in an exclusive interaction.
“So I learned a lot of things about their level of fitness, their level of skill. And I think some of my key takeaways would be how they’re all super calm and controlled in the court and how they feel their agility in the court really helps them,” she adds.
The experience of competing at an Asian-level tournament is certainly going to come in handy for her when she competes in the biggest tournament of her nascent career so far – the World Junior Squash Championships that takes place in Cairo, Egypt, from 21 July to 1 August.
“Definitely I think it will help, because Asian is on the step to Worlds, so if I can start doing well in the Asian level, where I’m going for the Asian juniors right now, so after that, I think with that exposure I can improve and go better in the Worlds. And I think I’m very excited,” Dubey told this website.
She has been training with her current coach, Abhinav Sinha, for the last five years, and the Mumbai-based lawyer-turned-athlete reveals that her training for the Worlds has been in motion for nine months with the intention of having her peak around July, when the tournament will get underway.
“The planning for the events have been in place for last nine months actually. So it’s all been planned, gearing up towards peaking in July for these events. She has worked a lot on court movements and fitness part, and we have introduced some advanced fitness training – EMS training – which she has been doing.
“So fitness-wise, I think physically she is there and we have obviously worked on her game strategies, which we will do more in the last month as she’s getting close to the matches, like tournament scenarios,” said Sinha, who was also part of the interaction alongside Dubey.
How Dubey’s parents shaped her squash journey through hard work and sacrifice
Dubey grew up idolising Indian squash icons Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa as well as legendary athletes from other sports such as Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu. And while she played several sports early in her childhood, she took her squash game “to the next level” at the age of 8-9, at which point she had pretty much made up her mind about pursuing the indoor racquet sport a lot more seriously.
Sinha, meanwhile, knows a thing or two about the sacrifices that her parents made to fulfil Anika’s dream of becoming a world-class squash player.
“When she started with us, she was very young, based in Pune and I was in Bombay. I used to go to Pune, but not that often. They (Anika’s parents) took a call when she was around 10 or 11. She was doing well, but she was not at the top, but they showed that kind of dedication of getting her to Bombay to train at that time because she was struggling in Pune.
“So that’s the kind of effort in fact I would say parents have put in and they are still doing it now. Right now, she’s in Bombay again, so they keep doing that every weekend. So, from the parents’ point of view, I think it’s a great effort in a good way. And obviously results make them happy, but effort is always there,” Sinha adds.
Anika, meanwhile, describes her parents as her biggest source of inspiration, who continue to play an active part in overseeing her training as well as diet, besides helping her out academically.
“I think they took a lot of the biggest roles because they kept me going even when I was struggling, even when I was younger. They took me to practice every day, they supported me, they helped me with my studies. They keep track of my food, my training, my fitness, everything,” the 15-year-old said.
Juggling between training and studies
Competing in a global event in any discipline requires an athlete to dedicate themselves fully to their sport – to eat, sleep and breathe it, as some would say. For young athletes like Dubey, however, there’s the added pressure of managing her studies as well.
Sure, there are plenty of examples of legendary athletes who weren’t the brightest students during their school days. However, the fact that an athlete’s playing career typically lasts till the late 30s and one has to plan for life after retirement as well, getting good grades in school along with a college degree certainly comes in handy, even if it’s not an absolute must.
Dubey, for one, insists there’s no pressure from her parents when it comes to securing good grades in school, including in her board exams that she will be appearing in next year. The teenager also ensures that she keeps her school life separate from her squash career and that she is able to dedicate enough time towards it at the end of the day.
“School is completely different and I keep both of them completely different environments. So school is all about like not related to squash, I don’t talk about squash. Squash is not related to school. So like I keep them two completely different roles.
“And I think in school, one of the biggest challenges was to complete my work and then convince the teachers that even if I’m not present, I can still score well. So time management and all those were kind of difficulties I faced, but then I think I’m doing pretty well now,” said Dubey, who added that she focuses on her studies late in the evening, after she’s done with her squash training.
Though she will be eligible to play at the U-19 level for another four years, Dubey is already setting her sights on representing the nation at the senior level in major events such as the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games among other events, although it remains to be seen if she’ll get to play alongside her idols Ghosal and Chinappa, who are in their late 30s.
“I think my short-term goal would be to perform well in these world-level events that I’m going to next month and then to do some more world-level events this year. And the school side will probably be to do well in my boards next year.
“Long term, I would like to be a part of the Indian team, not only junior but the senior team as well, the women’s team, to go to all the major events. School, I’m not so sure. I’m just taking it as it comes,” Dubey signed off.
