IBL: Youngsters to catch the eye

Akshay Dewalkar of Banga Beats. (Getty Images)

Akshay Dewalkar

Dewalkar has had an unremarkable time on the international circuit partnering Pranaav Chopra in men’s doubles and Pradnya Gadre in the mixed. There have been occasions, however, when Chopra and Dewalkar have sparkled – such as at Hong Kong last year when they took a game off world champions Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, or at the China Open, where they lost the first game 27-25 to the exciting Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan.

Dewalkar partnered Carsten Mogensen for Banga Beats, and the combination matured over the fortnight. The best performance came at the very end, when Dewalkar and Mogensen left Malaysian combination Lim Khim Wah/Shem Goh lost for ideas in a 15-21 21-15 11-1 rout. Dewalkar was at his best in this game, returning sure-shot winners from Lim and Shem, anticipating brilliantly at the net and firing winners at will. The IBL could well be the starting point of a new phase in his career.

About the author

Dev S Sukumar is the recipient of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Media Award, 2011. He is India's most widely travelled badminton writer, having covered several international tournaments, including the Olympics, the Asian Games, the CWG Games, World Championships, the All England, the Denmark Open, the Malaysia Open, etc. He has covered badminton for over ten years now. During this period he has met fascinating characters, witnessed great matches, and has authored a biography of Indian badminton great Prakash Padukone. He has written on the game for several publications, including Sports Illustrated, Mint, Badminton Asia magazine, The New Indian Express, Hindustan Times, DNA and IANS.
He tweets at twitter.com/shuttlemania

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Edited by Staff Editor