The Rising Star of Indian Badminton – Diya Bheemaiah Boppanda

Background

Badminton in India has seen prolific growth ever since Prakash Padukone showed the way by becoming the first Indian to win the All England Open and being ranked World No 1 in 1980. The competition is fierce at all levels and it takes more than hard work and talent to succeed at these levels. Kodagu already boasts of the legendary Ashwini Ponnappa who continues to represent the country at the international badminton circuit in both the women’s and mixed doubles disciplines. Joshna Chinnappa and Rohan Bopanna come immediately to mind too for Squash and Tennis. To add to their exceptional talent, their hard-work and selfless, unequivocal support from their talented parents enabled them to get proper coaching and emotional support through their phenomenal journey. Sponsorships are critical at the right moments and coaching to mitigate the stress of competing at the highest levels.

Badminton is perhaps amongst the most watched sports in Olympic events in India, especially after Saina Nehwal won a bronze medal in the 2021 Olympics and PV Sindhu won two in 2016 and 2021 Olympics. Both trained in Hyderabad, considered the main hub for badminton academies which hosts four of the top 7 ranking institutions. However, there are academies in Delhi and Bengaluru. Padukone Sports Management in Bangalore has a distinguished history too.

The Rising Star from Kodagu

At just 17, Diya Bheemaiah, hailing from Nangala village in Bittangala, Kodagu, has emerged as one of the brightest young talents in Indian badminton. Currently ranked No. 1 in Karnataka in Shuttle Badminton, Diya’s journey is a phenomenal testament to what dedication, discipline, and strong support can achieve.

Her recent achievements speak volumes and includes:

• Silver Medallist at the Senior National Ranking Tournament, competing among the nation’s best.
• Represented India at the Asian Badminton Championship U-17 in Chengdu, China (August 2024).
• Excelled on the international stage again at the Nepal Junior International Series – Bronze in Singles and Silver in Doubles (with partner Ms. Baruni Parswal).
• Contributed to her team’s victory at the SGFI Under-19 Nationals held in Madhya Pradesh.
• Clinched Silver in Doubles and Bronze in Mixed Doubles at the 36th Sub-Junior Badminton Tournament in Tamil Nadu.
• Crowned Champion at the Under-19 All India Krishna Kaithan Tournament in Panchkula, Haryana.
• Ranked No. 2 in U-19 Singles and No. 1 in Mixed Doubles
• Runner-up in Women’s Doubles at the prestigious All India Senior Ranking Tournament held at Jwala Gutta Academy, Telangana.

Behind these exceptional accomplishments is a story of relentless effort, sacrifice, and resilience. Balancing academics with national and international tournaments is no small feat, especially in a country as vast and competitive as India. Yet, Diya has proven her mettle off the court as well—scoring impressively in her 10th standard despite her demanding schedule.

This journey would not be possible without the unwavering support of her parents, Coach Aroon at Mysore, few well-wishers, who have stood by her every step of the way, managing travel, training, and the emotional highs and lows of competitive sport. Vidhyaashram College, Mysore, has also played a pivotal role, offering her the flexibility and encouragement to pursue both her academic and sporting dreams.

Diya’s story is not just one of personal triumph – it is a call to action. Talents like hers, need consistent support to continue shining on the National and Global stage. The journey from being a promising youngster to realising her objective of becoming an international champion is filled with challenges – financial, logistical and emotional.

CLN reached out to Diya to understand the end goal of her painstaking trials and tribulations. When asked what her ultimate objective would be – her prompt and passionate answer was to win a gold medal for the Country at the Olympics!

It is a matter of great pride and joy for the Kodava community to have such phenomenally talented sportspersons from our community.  We would urge sports patrons and sponsors to raise their hands and contribute to make Diya’s dream a reality. We can collectively support and empower Diya and others like her to bring glory to the nation.

CLN will be announcing a grant for Diya and would hope that the various Clubs, Samajas’ and like-minded people will step forward to raise a corpus for her success. Rather than a one-off effort, we should track the progress and encourage our brightest stars to shine.

Let’s champion our champions-because behind every successful athlete is a community that believed in them!

Postscript:

In the many responses that CLN received on the success of the Hockey Namme and what could be done to raise the bar – a major area for consideration is spotting Exceptionally Talented Youngsters and providing mentorship, scholarships and ongoing support to ensure that their potential is realised. We have brilliant young athletes, boxers, shooters, hockey, squash, tennis players, golfers and more.

The same logic should be applied to Education and our brilliant youngsters, with all agencies like Coorg Education Fund, individual Kodava Samajas, KESST, Kodava Deenabandhu Charitable Trust and other similar organisations coming together for greater impact. The initiatives taken by Parsee Panchayat and neighbouring Tulunad Bunt Sangha are excellent examples to follow.

The fact that South India has been able to produce star Badminton, Squash and Tennis players is perhaps also linked to the fact that there are world class facilities for these sports in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. The South’s lack of representation in Hockey at the National level is a reflection of all the new Hockey Stadiums and facilities in the past two decades coming up in Orissa and Chhattisgarh and many more in Punjab and Delhi.

We certainly deserve better infrastructure in Kodagu. CLN is willing to create a platform for dialogue that brings all the important stakeholders together to address this issue – the District Administration, Akhila Kodava Samaja and many Kodava Samajas’ in the State, across the country and the influential diaspora living abroad.

The need of the hour is a comprehensive sports facility that will facilitate all the Family Tournaments at one place – especially during the month-long, all-important Family Hockey Namme. This would save precious man days lost due to uncoordinated events, better affordable participation, cut avoidable duplication of costs and most importantly provide precious community bonding! The relatively young and enthusiastic political representatives should be brought in to provide support on a Public, Private, Participation (PPP) Model.

Sagar Apparanda, is a quiet successful Entrepreneur, Planter, Director of SACAA Sports Academy and a social worker who played an important role in Clean Kakkabe Initiative to make the Kakkabe river free from garbage.