Former Indian junior shuttler BR Sankeerth making waves as a Canada player

BR Sankeerth is India’s loss and Canada’s gain. The former Indian junior team shuttler is making waves at the international circuit and slowly establishing himself as Canada’s No. 1 player.

After representing India in the World Junior Under-19 Championships and Asian Junior Championships in 2014, he shifted to Canada as his parents moved there.

However, his passion for sports never stopped and he continued to play in Canada. With his hard work and determination, Sankeerth reached a career-best men’s singles world ranking of 81 last month.

23-year-old Sankeerth is now Canada's second-best player and has already represented his new country at the Pan Am Championships.

Bengaluru-born Sankeerth won the bronze medal at the Pan Am Championship held in Guatemala earlier this year. He lost a close three-game semi-final against his Canadian counterpart Brian Yang, who is also the Canadian national champion.

Sankeerth has won two BWF international titles

The former Karnataka state champion Sankeerth captured two BWF international men’s singles titles – one each in 2018 and 2019.

Maintaining his steady rise on the international circuit, Sankeerth also finished as runner-up twice in the Future Series. Last week at the Lithuanian International Challenge tournament, Sankeerth was placed second after losing to France’s Alex Lanier in the final.

After winning the first game at 21-18, top seed Sankeerth had match points in the second game. However, he could not capitalize on them and lost 21-18, 21-23, 15-21 against the Frenchman.

Sankeerth's coach Jagadish Yadav admitted that the tiredness from the semifinals took a toll on his pupil's performance.

“Sankeerth lost in the final because of his tiredness. He played a marathon semi-final match which lasted for one and half hours. He could not recover from that long match as the final was slated just a couple of hours later. Otherwise he would have won his third BWF men’s singles title,” said Jagadish Yadav.

Although Sankeerth represents Canada as a Canadian citizen, he has been training at Yadav Pro Badminton Academy in JP Nagar, Bengaluru since 2019.

“Sankeerth has been training under me for the last one and half years. He participates in the international tournaments and again comes back here for practice. He likes to train at our academy as he gets the personal attention and good sparring partners. He has the potential to reach higher in the world rankings. Ever since he joined our center, his performance has steadily improved,” said Jagadish Yadav, a former international shuttler.

Jagadish Yadav said Sankeerth has a chance to play in the prestigious BWF World Championship scheduled for later in the year.

“Since Sankeerth is Canada’s second best player, he can represent Canada in the World Championships. If he does it, it will be a great achievement for him. He lost narrowly in the final of the last Canadian National Championship. I am confident that he will become Canada’s best player in the coming few years,” said Yadav.

Sankeerth started playing badminton when he was barely eight years old. He finished as a runner-up at the Under-13 Karnataka State Rankings Junior Tournament in 2010. He then gained confidence with that performance and went on to represent India in the World Juniors. Sankeerth is currently playing at the Spanish international tournament.