Photos courtesy: Jonathan Stone/ Blackstar Sports
By Gurbir Singh
New Zealand, May 14, 2017: Abhinav Manota, who came to New Zealand only 3 years back from Jalandhar, has bagged the Men’s Singles and Mixed Doubles titles in the New Zealand National Championships/ North Harbour Open Badminton tournaments that concluded recently. He finished as the finalist in Doubles.
Abhinav defeated Edward Lau to win the Single’s title. Manota was leading the first game 20-4 when Lau retired due to injury. In partnership with Justine Villegas, Abhinav then again defeated Edward Lau -Alyssa Tagle team to win the mixed doubled final. The match score was 21-17, 21-17. His years of training and hard work had paid off - he was the 2017 reigning champion.
Born and brought up in Jalandhar, 24 year old Abhinav moved to New Zealand in 2014 to study Diploma in Business and Enterprise Management at Christchurch (in South Island) and had planned to return to India.
Destiny, however, had something else in store for him. He perhaps never realised at that time that his decision to study in New Zealand was the best thing he had ever done in his life. While studying, he saw the tremendous opportunities that this country had to offer to those who were willing to work hard, make sacrifices. He stayed on.
Abhinav, who turns 25 in July was the Panjab State Champion in 2012, but had failed to make any headway beyond that.
His new home country, New Zealand, however, has given him the opportunities, facilities and training that he would not have perhaps got in India. He has worked his way up to achieve the current Men’s badminton ranking of number 3 in New Zealand, and is also the recipient of the Badminton North Harbour Player of the Year in 2015.
Success in his dream game has given Abhinav what all he ever desired - job as a Development Officer in the Badminton North Harbour Association; he has become a permanent resident and would be a citizen in due course; he met and made new friends and has developed a close relationship with a charming young lady, Rebecca Goddard; and he has a futuristic chance to represent New Zealand in international games, including Oceania, Commonwealth and may be Olympics if his winning spree continues.
Even while pursuing his diploma studies, he found time to keep up his game practice by playing with other Canterbury players. He participated in the South Island Champs and was winner in Men’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
Same year he represented New Zealand in NBC Sydney International, Australia and was a pre-quarter finalist. Subsequently, he continued to participate in several domestic and International tournaments in Singles, Doubles & Mixed Doubles, and in 2016 Sydney International Challenge, Australia, he was the Quarter-finalist in Doubles.
Though slightly disappointed at his results, yet he did not lose his focus and trained hard for future challenges. Domestic tournaments, however, did not disappoint him. In 2016, he won the titles of Singles and Doubles and was Runners-up in Mixed Doubles of New Zealand’s North Harbour Open/North Island Champs. He also won the Men’s Singles in the Auckland Open in 2016.
To my question what made him move to Auckland from Christchurch and how did he get the break, Abhinav recounted his journey. “I owe to Dylan Soedjasa (National champion u15, u17, u19, and u23) who saw my potential when I represented Canterbury, and he advised me to shift to North Shore so that we can train together. So, in 2015 I moved to Auckland where I train every day, coach young budding players and have a job. I am also grateful to the Badminton New Zealand for their support and equipment sponsorship”.
Mani (as Abhinav is fondly called by his friends) is a simple, down to earth individual with no airs about him. His friends love to hang out with him and he enjoys his weekends going out for outdoor adventures, and has tried para-sailing.
When I asked him about his future goals, Abhinav’s simple reply was “My goal in life is to be the world champion. For that I am practicing twice daily and also I am part of the High Performance (group) which helps me to achieve my dreams. Though I am part of the New Zealand team, yet ironically, I can’t participate in Olympics and Commonwealth games for New Zealand as I am still not a citizen. But I can play open international tournaments which I have played a few already to get better exposure.”
“Once I get my citizenship, I aim to bring glory to New Zealand by winning medals in these international competitions as well”, he adds.
His optimism reflects in his answer, and no doubt he will bring laurels to New Zealand and automatically India, too, gets credit as his strong base was built there.
Gurbir Singh is a New Zealand-based freelance feature writer & journalist. he can be contacted at : gurbir@journalist.com