haldia a frail yet athletic girl bengal to the of international badminton on monday evening when faced finnish rival airi mikkela the round of the world badminton championship in london even as 20 year old rituparna das the reigning senior national women s champion took the court in her quest for glory her anxious parents held their breath frequently checking phones whatsapp updates on match which was not telecast on tv it s been a long journey for the haldia girl who is based in and plays for telengana she started playing at age of six at the local club even rituparna up the sport purely as a hobby she showed enough early promise for club to arrange for coaches from kolkata said her father mahananda senior operator of ioc the coaching made a to her game rituparna did look back after that said das her performance drew the attention badminton ace coach p gopichand who got in touch her parents and requested them send her to in hyderabad but s parents wary and turned the offer down two years they finally relented we felt she was too young to be to be on her own then gopichand felt it was mistake said her father training at the hyderabad academy changed rituparna s forever even as her father stayed back in haldia rituparna to the southern city along with mother and elder sister at the academy she training at 4 am and it continues till it has paid her rich though she has improved by leaps and bounds today she is a part of the national team competing with the best in the world said her mother ananya