This young shuttler from Margao is a boy of few words. TejanFalari’s shy nature makes him most comfortable in company of his own or on the badmintoncourt. After a rigorous schedule of playing and having participated in varioustournaments in Bangalore, Vishakhapatnam, Manipur, Patna and Gujarat, Tejan isnow enjoying some free time at his home in Goa.
A student of Bhatikar Model High School, Tejan has inheritedthe passion for badminton from his family genes. After starting to playbadminton at the age of eight, he followed the footsteps of his family members“ most of who are badminton players. His father Vaman Falari still continues toplay badminton and partners with Tejan in Mens double tournaments held acrossthe state. Apart from being a state champion, he now trains his son in thesport.
Tejan’s coach Vinayak Kamat feels Tejan’s maturity is aheadof his age. He says, “At present he has good control over his strokes. Hismaturity lies in the fact that he has different game strategies for differentopponents and has the ability to keep his cool even in tough situations. He hasimproved a lot in the last four-five months. But I feel, he is not putting inmuch hard work and giving importance to his fitness. If he puts in efforts tomaintain his fitness levels and weight training, he will do well at Nationals.”
Tejan and his family are thankful to his school and theSports Authority of Goa for their support in the form of exemption fromanswering exams or taking care of the school attendance. Tejan’s mother,Shantala does her bit by following up with his studies and helping him make upfor the loss of study time and classes. She says, “He is an average student. Hewants to concentrate more on his sport and we support him. It is difficult tojuggle academics with sport but he is doing a fairly good job.” She alsoexpresses a desire to send him to the Padukone Academy in Bangalore for furthertraining.
