Tuesday June 18, 2013
Kisona stays focused ahead of Asian Junior Championships
KUALA LUMPUR: Young shuttler S. Kisona looks like any other ordinary Indian girl but when she speaks, she makes heads turn with her fluent Mandarin.
“Yes, I do get those surprised looks,” giggled the 15-year-old Kisona.
“I studied at the Yuk Hua Primary Chinese School in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan and so naturally, I speak the language. In fact, I converse in Mandarin with my three siblings at home and with most of my team-mates in Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) too. Knowing Mandarin does help to build stronger camaraderie in the team.”
Kisona is one of the promising girl singles players in BJSS and on Sunday, she underlined her talent by winning two titles – the Under-16 singles and doubles events in the 100Plus National Grand Prix Finals. She won the doubles with Lee Ying Ying.
She had also swept a double in the Under-14 category in the GP Finals last year.
For her consistent performances, she won the right to represent the country in the Asian Junior Championships from July 7-14 at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. She will be joined by Ho Yen Mei, Yap Rui Chen, Lee Zi Yii, Sylvia Kavita Kumares and Lee Ying Ying.
If all goes well for Kisona, the slender policeman’s daughter may be able to arrest one of the current problems in the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) – the lack of quality women singles star coming through the ranks.
Kisona wants to make it big but she realises that she needs to be disciplined and diligent.
“I am very focused in my badminton career now. I have been playing in many junior tournaments to sharpen my game and I do hope to become a top player one day,” said Kisona, who admires and aspires to be like India’s Saina Nehwal.
In fact, since coming under the charge of Indonesian Rony Agustinus in April, Kisona has shown improvement. She won the girls’ Under-16 and Under-18 titles in the Thailand International in Trang.
Her strong supporters and motivators are her parents –Selvaduray and Valarmathi.
“My father is a policeman and he is strict. He has encouraged me since I took up the sport when I was four years old. And when I first won a title in the National Close as a Standard Two student, I knew, this was the direction that I wanted to take,” said the Form Three student.
“Currently, juggling between studies and sports is a challenge because I am hardly here. I am going to the Asean School Games next (in Hanoi from June 22-30) but my ultimate goal is to do well in my second Asian Junior championships. If I do well, I have better chance of representing the country at the World Junior championships (in Bangkok from Oct 23-Nov 7),” she added.
For the record, last year, Malaysia had only one representative in the final of the Asian Junior meet but Soong Joo Ven lost to Kento Momota of Japan in the final of the boys’ singles and failed to defend the title won by Zulfadli Zulkifli in 2011.
