Anmol Kharb - The big hope for Indian women’s badminton

Anmol, translated to English, stands for ‘priceless’ and Haryana shuttler Anmol Kharb is already justifying her name on the Indian badminton landscape.

Anmol Kharb became the women’s singles national badminton champion at the age of 16 and a year later, proved to be the driving force behind the Indian women’s team bagging a historic gold medal at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia.

Besides possessing all the technical skills and power to excel at the highest stage, what stands out about Anmol is her mental fortitude.

In Malaysia, the youngster proved to be India’s saviour not once, but on three different occasions, beating higher-ranked and more experienced opponents in deciders, including in the final.

Where is Anmol Kharb from

Born on January 20, 2007, in Haryana’s Faridabad, Anmol Kharb took up badminton at a young age having seen her elder brother Hardik play the sport.

While Hardik eventually opted to concentrate on studies, Anmol picked up badminton more seriously and found plenty of support from the family - her father Devender, an advocate by profession, and her mother Rajbala.

Anmol initially played for the Dayanand Public School in Faridabad before shifting bases to Noida at the Sunrise Shuttlers Academy under coach Kusumm Singh, a former national-level peer of Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal and Ashwini Ponnappa.

Rajbala also moved with her daughter to support her career.

Besides her regular practice, Anmol also took up some unconventional means to supplement her technical training. Every morning the youngster got up at 5:00 AM to attend a physical training class conducted by a former international boxer at a local park.

The class helped her add power to her game, which eventually became an intrinsic feature of her playing style. Anmol is known for her devastating yet accurate smashes on the badminton court.

Anmol Kharb achievements

Soon enough, the youngster’s talents shone through. In 2019, at the age of 12, Anmol won the U-17 All India Ranking title in Hyderabad, her first national-level title. She also made the semi-finals of the Senior All India Ranking tournament in Visakhapatnam that year and got picked for the government of India’s Khelo India scheme, which provides assistance to budding athletes.

Anmol moved up a gear in 2020, winning the under-17 national titles in both singles and doubles, for which she partnered up with Vennala K.

The Indian badminton player also has done well in international age-group tournaments, reaching the pre-quarterfinals of the Asian Junior Championships in 2022. Anmol soon became the India No. 1 in both the under-17 and 19 age groups.

However, it was in 2023 that Anmol Kharb shot into the limelight. At the senior nationals held in Guwahati, the youngster outplayed Tanvi Khanna to pocket her first senior national title, at age 16.

In the semis, the Saina Nehwal fan accounted for her senior compatriot Ashmita Chaliha, a regular on the BWF World Tour.

A star is born in Malaysia

On the back of her nationals win, Anmol was picked to be a part of the Indian women’s team for the Badminton Asia Team Championships 2024 in Selangor, Malaysia. She was the third singles player in the squad alongside two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Chaliha.

Now, heading into the Malaysia meet, India had won only two medals in the continental team event, both bronze and won by the men’s team in 2016 and 2020.

With the Indian women clinching a maiden gold in Shah Alam, history was made and the 17-year-old Anmol was the chief protagonist in the historic win. She played three and won them all but what made these special is the fact that all three of them were deciders.

When Anmol took the court for her first-ever senior international meet, she was to play the deciding tie in India’s group stage clash against the People’s Republic of China.

Up against world No. 149 Wu Luo Yu, a few gave the youngster, ranked 472nd in the BWF world rankings at the time, any chance of walking away with a victory.

But Anmol proved everyone wrong and beat Yu 22-20, 14-21, 21-18. In the first game, the Indian prodigy came back after trailing 17-15 and held her nerves to pocket the third after being tied at 18-all.

While even a loss against China would have seen India through to the quarters, Anmol Kharb’s triumphant final stand set the tone for the tournament.

India blanked Hong Kong China 3-0 in the quarters without needing Anmol’s services but in the semi-finals against powerhouses Japan, the teenager was called upon yet again to play the decider against world No. 29 Natsuki Nidaira, a former junior world championships bronze medal winner.

Unlike the China match, an Anmol loss would see India bow out this time.

As many in the media prepared their ‘India goes down fighting’ headlines, Anmol flipped the script, essentially bulldozing the Japanese shuttler en route to a 21-14, 21-18 win and ensuring India’s maiden final appearance in the competition.

In the final against Thailand, PV Sindhu and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand won the first two matches to hand India a 2-0 lead but successive losses level the scores at 2-2.

Anmol took the court against world No. 45 Pornpicha Choeikeewong under familiar circumstances, this time needing to win to hand India a historic gold. Like always, the teenager didn’t disappoint and dispatched her higher-ranked opponent 21-14, 21-9 in just 43 minutes.

Anmol’s sensational giant-killing run in Malaysia was awe-inspiring and even had badminton legends like Pullela Gopichand gushing.

“To actually play the deciding tie in a big match... the final of a team event, it needs guts and an amount of confidence and it shows what you are made of. I think she has done remarkably well on that front,” Gopichand said. “She has been phenomenal, she played the right strokes and she had the greatest of attitude and it is wonderful to see.”

Anmol Kharb won her first international title in the women's singles event at the Belgian International in September 2024 and followed it up with another victory just two weeks later at the Polish International.

When the Sindhu-Saina era in Indian badminton will eventually draw to a close, the likes of Anmol, if she continues developing on the right track, can potentially carry the torch forward.

Anmol Kharb medals and awards

• Senior women’s singles national champion in 2023
• Gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships 2024
• First singles international title at Belgian International 2024