VASCO
Goa's No 1 badminton player Anjana Kumari is all set to return to international action when she participates in Uganda International Badminton Tournament, which will start from February 25.
Kumari started her international career in the senior category since October 2019 at Dubai International Challenge Tournament and qualified for the main draw. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all the domestic and international sporting events had been stopped since March 2020.
Before the postponement of all the tournaments, she played five international tournaments and had also reached the quarter-finals in a tournament held in Iran in February 2020 but missed her first international trophy narrowly. She also reached the pre-quarterfinals at Nepal International Challenge.
Kumari, by playing only five international tournaments in four months of her career, has made her place among BWF Top 250 players in the singles category. Kumari, who represents Goa, is among top 25 Indian woman shuttlers in BWF rankings at 24th place in a list that includes top stars Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu.
Kumari has also been rated among top 5 fastest-rising current Indian women shuttlers, who have played only five or less international tournaments. Kumari is also the first girl from Goa, who has represented India under-18 school team at World School Championship (WSC) 2018, organised biannually by International School Federation (ISF) among more than its 150 member countries, wherein they reached semi-finals. Kumari was also one of the four members of Goa women's team, which participated in 35th National Games and won a bronze medal in their maiden appearance in a team event in Kerala.
"Kumari is targeting to break into top-100 as soon as possible from the current rank of 239. To achieve this, she has to play several tournaments and for that to happen, some financial help and support is required,” a member of Kumari's family said.
“We are making an appeal to all the sports-loving individuals and corporates to come forward to help her financially so that she can work towards achieving her ultimate dream of being world No 1 and winning major championships," said the member.
