Aiming for a long run: Varuni Jaiswal

Pursuing second year in Bachelor of Science –Bio Technology at St Mary’s Yousufguda, Hyderabad, the 17-year-old Varuni Jaiswal has proved that she is a champion indeed. With a black belt title in Karate and having hands-on experience in using the weapon Nunchaku, the professional table tennis player is also adept at narrating Bhagavad Gita in different languages. She also stresses on pursing science to be a doctor.

Extracts from an interview

What made you take up playing Table Tennis as a career?
When I was five, my father had a table tennis court in his personality development and public speaking institute. I used to visit his institute during weekends to play. I never thought that table tennis would become something that I would choose as a career. I started playing the game casually and sooner it became a serious game. I always wanted to be a doctor, but I am also achieving really good in the game, so I would like to manage both academics and game.

Professionally, I started training at the age of 7. Until the age of 10, I was getting trained by my father who has been very supportive about whatever I was doing. Later, I started training at Secunderabad Gujarati Seva Mandal where Venu Gopal Sir and Nagaraj Sir happened to guide and train me. It is because of my mom and dad’s support that I am here today.

How many hours do you practice?
I play for almost 5 hours a day. During weekends I practice both in the morning and evening and on weekdays I play according to my schedule.

How do you manage your academics and the game?
I have taken science as my subject, which needs at least 10 hours of study. In a month I have four to five tournaments and so I miss my college, which is very difficult to manage. But, I somehow manage to cope with my studies and also play my game.I maintain a dairy which has a time table mentioned for my day. I have some 25 activities throughout the day and I complete all of them in the scheduled time. I also discuss with my father what I must do for the day. If I happen to miss few of the activities, I re-schedule them for the next day which makes my day easier.

Tell us about your memorable achievements?
My biggest achievements are when I won the junior singles girl’s title at the World Junior Circuit in the year 2016. I was also captaining for Osmania University team and for the first time we won gold for South Zone and we also achieved the all India title. I represented India in seven countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Israel, and Slovakia to name a few. During Thailand Open we won the bronze medal as a team. In South Asian Championship we won the gold medal as a team. In Slovakia and Poland tournaments I was ranked fourth.

Who has been your inspiration?
MS Dhoni, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. I love to see them play.

Are you planning to get into Olympics?
Yes! I want to represent my country at Olympics and make my country proud by winning the title. I am practicing hard to achieve a title. I have undergone Tonsillitis surgery, but, I have recovered now, and I am back into practicing for the game. I won the Youth Girls’ singles title at the State Ranking tournaments, which was held in Hyderabad recently.

What are your plans for future?
I am planning to take up table tennis further. The life span of a sports man is very short, and he/ she has to grab all the opportunities that come by. I am grabbing all the opportunities that are coming my way.