Stamina, power, reflexes, mind games and perhaps all the ingredients of sport were present in what Janet Vidhi and Harshit Kaur were up to until recently. But squash provided them with a little bit more of every thing and they took up their fathers’ pastime seriously — enough to win the under-15 national title for Delhi last month. Harshit returned with three prizes including gold in the individual under-13 category and the most promising player of the event. Just a year ago, however, Harshit was confused about taking up a sport after trying her luck in horse-riding, swimming, badminton and tennis.

“I realised she wasn’t enjoying it and started taking her to the squash courts along with me. She developed into a national level player in her age group within a year,” Varinder Kumar, Harshit’s father, says. Today, she is the number one in the country in her category and dares rubbing shoulders with the taller and stronger, even the under-19s. In that, she is also living her father’s dreams. “I couldn’t continue with cricket because of my temperament and lack of assistance. That’s why I wanted her to take up some sport,” Kumar says.

Janet, too, has an inspirational father behind her. From school-level badminton until a couple of years ago to bubbling thoughts of making a career out of squash, the DSOI courts near Dhaula Kuan have been her companion over the last two years. “She was playing badminton earlier because the rackets were light. I always wanted her to play squash and waited until she became strong enough to hold a heavy racket,” KK Verma, Janet’s father, says.

... contd.