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Subhankar Dey

Indian shuttler, Subhankar Dey, in pursuit of a dream, battling odds aplenty, clinched his ticket to stardom when he

achieved a win over two-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time World Champion, Lin Dan at the Saarlorlox open held in

Saarbrücken, Germany, making him the third Indian after Kidambi Shrikanth and H. S. Prannoyto achieve the feat.

“I had never imagined a moment like this when I started playing badminton. I was a huge fan of Lin growing up and had his
posters stuck on the walls of my room. My sister used to send me CDs of his matches and I used to study them and try and
emulate him,” an overjoyed Subhankar told the reporter from 'Sportstar' at Saarbrücken.

After the win over the Chinese star, Subhankar breezed past England's Toby Penty and China's Reg Pengbo to storm into the

final, where he defeated fifth seed British no 1 Rajiv Ousephto claim his first title of the season.

However, the journey to get here has been long and arduous for Subhankar. Hailing from Belgharia in northern Kolkata, he
used to travel two hours to and fro after school to attend coaching sessions at Jadavpur's Raipur Club, on a cement court, five
times a week. “I used to leave at 3 pm, play from 5 to 9 and come back around midnight. It was a huge struggle. My elder sister
used to travel with me and we did this for seven years,” he said. His sister's marriage and subsequent relocation to Hyderabad
made him move to Mumbai to pursue his love for the sport.

“My parents didn't consider badminton as a career and were keen on me taking up a government
job. I was from a middle-class family and had to secure my career. However, I decided I wanted to
play badminton and ran away from home. I left home with 500 rupees and took a train to
Mumbai. My parents didn't talk to me for the initial two months, but eventually came around,”
he said.

Subhankar spent the next two years under Coach Srikanth Vad in Mumbai's Thane district
before moving to Bangalore, where he trained under the watchful eyes of veteran coach Tom
John. “Tom made me an international level player. He worked really hard on my game and I'm
here because of him,” he said.

“The odds were stacked against me. I used to receive a salary of around Rupees. 20,000 from the
Indian Railways as a senior clerk and every academy was asking for at least Rupees 25,000/- I
approached all the academies but nobody helped me. I had no other option but to move abroad.

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