The 18-year old shuttler from Vijayawada, Chetan Anand, is being hailed by many as the future Indian hope. With a string of exemplary performances in domestic and Asian circuits, Anand, an engineering student from Machilipatnam, looks all set to make a mark in the international circuit.At the Asian Satellite Championships at Chennai, Anand won many hearts, including that of Asian Badminton Confederation secretary Punch Gunalan. He was the only Indian to trouble the mighty Malaysians.

``Mark my words, it will not be long he makes his impact on the international circuit,'' said coach P U Bhaskar Babu.

Anand's romance with badminton began a decade ago. What started off as recreation, ended up as his first and only love. `Chetan never hesitates to put in an extra effort to acquire the finesse,'' Babu added.

A product of NSTC-SAI scheme, Anandn participated in mini nationals in 1990 atGuwahati and later went on to carve a niche for himself in the State and National levels. In 1997, he took part in the Prince Asian Junior championships at Hong Kong. The internal dispute in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) came as blessing in disguise for him, as he was roped in to represent the senior ABC championships at Kuala Lumpur and, subsequently, at the same venue, he played the junior segment.

Said Punnaiah Chowdhary, joint secretary, Badminton Association of India: ``Prakash Padukone is highly impressed with the boy. And he even expressed his willingness to take Chetan into his academy's fold and, if, necessary send him abroad for intensive training.''

Analysing the strengths and weaknesses of his ward, Babu said: ``Chetan is good all-round player. He is adept at swift reflexes, trajectory-control and anticipation. He relies more on instincts and deception is his forte. But net dribbling, time and again, has proved to be his Achilles heel.''

``Speed, strength and stamina are theinextricable part of the modern game. Now Chetan should concentrate on toning up muscles.

The importance of muscle formation in the thigh area, helps the shuttler to control the bird, especially after a jump smash.''