Want to take consistency to senior level as well, says Tasnim Mir

The 16-year-old recently became the first Indian shuttler to achieve the World No.1 ranking in the Junior category.

Tasnim Mir, the 16-year-old from Gujarat entered the record books. She became the first player from India to achieve the World No.1 ranking in the junior category. This achievement is something which even PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal couldn’t attain at their young age.

Post her phenomenal achievement, the young shuttler sat down with the media for an interaction. Here are excerpts from the interaction.

What the achievement means for her

“I always want to perform well. This World No. 1 rank is a boost and I wish to take this consistency to the senior category as well,” Tasnim Mir said. “I want to perform well when I play senior tournaments and of course, compete in the Olympic Games.”

Thomas and Uber Cup experience

Last year Tasnim Mir got selected for the Thomas and Uber Cup campaign for India and she performed well. Talking about her experience, she said, ”It was of course a proud moment for me when I was selected for the Uber Cup.”

"I got to meet a lot of senior players from the Indian national team and it acted as a great exposure for me,” she added.

On comparison with An Se-young

A lot of young players have stunned the higher-ranked players past their arrival at the senior circuit. Youngster An Se-young had beaten almost all the top 10 players at a very young age.

When asked about comparisons with her, Tasnim Mir said, “An Se-young is an unbelievable player and has a very great level of play. Performing like her would be very difficult and I have to work really hard to be like her.”

On her adaptability in training with different coaches

Tasnim was coached by her father when she was very young. She then moved to Hyderabad at the Gopichand Academy where she trained for two years. Now, she trains in Guwahati under Indonesian coach Edwin Iriawan and has been there for the last four years.

Talking about her adaptability in training with different coaches, she said, “I left training with my father long back before moving to Gopichand Academy. After that I moved to Guwahati to train under Indonesian coach Edwin Iriawan who had also trained Saina and Sindhu. I have adapted well to these changes and I knew that I needed to have players who could be of my level to train.”

On current Indian women's singles scene

There is no Indian female shuttler in the top 50 apart from PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. It is still unknown as to who will succeed these players in the near future. Although there are players like Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap and Ashmita Chaliha coming up, their performances on the big stage haven’t been up to the mark.

Tasnim Mir expressed her views as to when are we likely to see new shuttlers coming up.

“There are many shuttlers like Malvika Bansod and Ashmita Chaliha who are likely to play for India in the big tournaments. There is a lot of competition in India itself, but that remains at the country level. We hope that goes same overseas at the international level too,” she added.

Overcoming thoughts of giving up at one point

Players often go through failures in their journey to success. Tasnim Mir also talked about the times when she felt like giving up and how she motivated herself to perform better. She said, “There were often times when I felt like giving up. But, my coaches and physiotherapists have always motivated me by saying that I could not win every time, I had to accept what was there.”

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