Dubai: In sport, it is all about overcoming adversities. Adversities across the net, adversities from difficult conditions and adversities within. Dubai-bred Tanisha Crasto has managed to overcome adversities with a smile after winning the gold and silver in the Nantes International Challenge on Sunday.
The 20-year-old suffered an abdominal injury on the eve of the finals, but after having painkillers and strapping the abdomen and part of the leg, Crasto played two finals with the injury and won the women’s doubles title along with her partner Ashwini Ponnappa, defeating Hung En-Tzu and Lin Yu-Pei of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-14 in just 31 minutes.
'Wonderful feeling'
The pain started resurfacing during the mixed doubles final where Crasto and K. Sai Pratheek lost to the Danish duo of Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch 21-14, 14-21, 17-21 in 51 minutes. The efforts have taken her to 64 in women’s doubles rankings while she moved to 94 in mixed doubles.
“I have a wonderful feeling. It’s been a very long time that I’ve had an international podium finish, so worked very hard for it. It is really sweet as I achieved the results with two new partners,” Crasto told Gulf News ahead of her scan to ascertain the severity of the injury, which looks to be a minor tear.
“Even though it was two finals, I spoke to my dad the night before and told him that ‘I’ve come so far so I will give my best whatever I can and then we’ll see the results. I couldn’t move much of my abdomen and managed to win the first final, but by the time the second match had come the pain had gotten very bad. I still pulled through and happy that I was able to complete the whole match.
Difficult months
The 20-year-old Crasto has been having a difficult few months, especially in a crucial year when most of the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualifiers take place. Crasto and her long-time mixed doubles partner Ishaan Bhatnagar, made a meteoric rise in the mixed doubles rankings and ended in the top 20 at the end of 2022. The duo were hoping to go higher and seal a place for the Olympic Games.
The duo had a great start to the year, winning the Syed Modi International title, but an untimely ACL tear to Bhatnagar dented the duo’s dreams. Bhatnagar will be out of action for at least six months and in the process Crasto could not take part in the Badminton Asia Individual Championships in April. But the silver medal with Sai Pratheek should have come as a huge relief for the former Indian High School, Dubai student.
“It was expected from us in the woman’s doubles category, but it was the first tournament outside India for Pratheek and I. In less than a month of training, we were able to get a podium finish, that’s amazing,” added Crasto. “I think we just need to train more and then we’ll have more podium finishes at a much higher level. If we could perform like this, we will be able to score a good number of points for the qualification.”
'Learning a lot from Ashwini'
Crasto is happy to be playing women’s doubles with a veteran like Ponnappa since January, and feels the association has helped her to approach the game in a new way.
“There are so many things that I am learning from her right now. According to her the game is not over until 21 points are scored but the most important advise is that ‘whatever be the situation, always play with a smile and enjoy the game than taking the pressure on yourself.’ She keeps telling me before each game and now I am using this strategy in both my event, which is bringing great results,” said Crasto, who is looking to compete in the women’s doubles in Canada Open in two weeks’ time. “But that is subject to the scan report,” she concluded.
