Lucknow: After more than three dozen international medals, including a silver and a bronze at the World Championships, para shuttler Nithya Sre Sivan now chases her biggest dream of winning a medal at the upcoming Paris Paralympics on debut.

Nithya was always targeted for her short height even in her school days, and it had almost crushed her desire to live, but now those people appreciate her success after she won a series of medals for India.

“I still remember those days when people, especially my classmates, used to mock me because of my height in my hometown, Hosur, in Tamil Nadu, but now everyone admires my success,” said Nithya on the sidelines of the Indian para badminton teams’ send-off ceremony for the Paris Paralympics here on Friday.

Nithya, 19, will target a golden double at the Paris Paralympics. She will play in singles in the SL6 category as well as in the mixed doubles category along with Sivarajan Solaimalai. “Even before winning a silver and a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in May in Thailand this year, I had shifted base to Lucknow. Since February, I haven’t met my family members,” said Nithya.

Double bronze medalist at the 2023 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, Nithya said she has prepared well to challenge Chinese shuttlers, who are a tough contender at the Paris Paralympics.

“I know their game plan well and have played against them earlier also. They are tough, but not unbeatable and I have prepared myself according to them as I won’t be having a problem in challenging a Malaysian in my group.”

Hailing from a middle-class family where her father works in a watch-making company, Nithya started off by playing cricket with her brothers in the by lanes near her house. She also played badminton alongside other shuttlers but it was during the 2016 Rio Olympics that the game truly took hold of her.

“I started admiring the game and the players. I became a little fan of Lin Dan at that time. I read a lot of news articles about him on the internet and used to wonder how a player can be like this,” she said, adding, “When I won a silver medal in the district championship in 2018, and only in 2020 I came to know about para-badminton through my dad’s colleague who was a para-badminton state player.”

“I achieved so many things and I have answered all the people who made fun of me those days. I just used to believe that you can succeed if you work hard to achieve your goal or passion. I never thought that I will stand here holding our country’s flag one day. Being small doesn’t matter, but dreaming big matters a lot,” she said.

Indian para-badminton team’s chief coach Gaurav Khanna, too, admires Nithya’s ability of winning at the top level.

“At this year’s World Championships, she went through many ups and downs, but didn’t lose confidence and came back home with two medals around her neck. It proves her strong belief in winning,” Khanna said.

“I always believe in her potential. She is a medal hope for India at the Paris Paralympics, where I’m confident of Indians winning at least 10 medals. We had four at the debut of the game at the Tokyo Paralympics, but this time we will come back home with at least 10 medals,” he added.

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