Madhumita -- still going strong at 36

Madhumita -- still going strong at 36
V KANNAN

KOCHI, MAR 1: Madhumita Bisht has fond memories of Kochi. It was here she won her first National title in 1982, age 17. It was the beginning of the long and successful career spanning 18 years during which she first represented India at 13 and has since won six National singles titles (1984-90).

``My determination to win every game I play, confidence and love for the game have helped me all through these years,'' she replied when asked what kept her going on and on.

``The help and support I got from my husband, Vikram Singh (a former National player who was in the team that played for India in the Thomas Cup finals) has been a great help,'' she added.

Talking about the the current crop youngsters, Madhumita said they have a competitive advantage which players of her age did not have. ``They are playing a lot of tournaments than we did and naturally, such exposure would help them improve their play. I have never played in the junior level. At 13, I played for India. But now, there are tournaments at mini, sub-junior and junior levels. They have more chances to improve than we had.''

Madhumita has also won the doubles crown consecutively from 1985 to 1990, besides bagging eight mixed doubles titles. Winner of the bronze medal at the 10th Asiad in Seoul and silver medal at the USSR International Championships in 1986, she also bagged the singles, doubles and mixed doubles in the French Open in 1989.

She acknowledged that India had to improve the standard of play to enter the final round of the Uber Cup Championship.

``We are up against some tough countries like China and Indonesia. We need to have a much more focussed training. It is now clear that we have singles players of the World class quality. We should focus on doubles where we are still weak. It would help if we could have training camps for the doubles only as the men's team had before the Thomas Cup qualifiers,'' she said.

Winner of the Arjuna Award in 1982, she said she would like to share her experience with the upcoming players. ``We (she and her husband) would like to share all our experience by starting a training centre in Delhi in the near future,'' said the 36-year-old champion.