With BOSM kicking off in under a week, the members of the Badminton (Boys) team are being put through their paces. Mohit Goyal, the team captain was no exception and it was with great difficulty that he managed to squeeze out time for a short interview.

Badminton is a racquet sport, played on a hardwood floor by hitting a shuttlecock across a net. Points are scored if the opponent nets the shuttle, misses it or hits it out of bounds. Both “singles” (one versus one) and “doubles” (two against two) formats are supported. Players race to three sets, where each set consists 21 points.

The BITS team has eight players – two first years, two second years, two third years, an MBA first year, and a lone fifth year. When asked about the best players, Mohit stated that either he or Akshay were the mostly likely to win their matches. ‘The first years are good, but out of form because of the two years of inactivity,’ he lamented. However, practice makes perfect, and the team has indeed been working hard in pursuit of a medal. Team practices are scheduled every evening from around 5:30 and end only at 8pm. The arrival of the coach in September encouraged the captain to hold morning drills as well, leading to a heavy schedule for the boys.

Regarding their competition at BOSM, Mohit was quick to label all incoming sports-quota colleges—Venky and SRCC in particular—as potential problems. He also recalled a disastrous BOSM’17 and simply said that the team would try its best to win it all this year. The team also travels to IIT Delhi and IIT Roorkee for outstation tournaments, and narrowly missed a chance at a semi-final appearance at Roorkee last year.

Mohit, a fan of Lin Dan, began to play the sport at the age of fifteen and quickly found out he had a talent for it. Although entrance exam preparations forced him to discontinue the sport for a while, he picked it up again in college. He stated that being the captain has forced him to improve his own game, as he feels the added responsibility has made him more serious. He also claimed that balancing academics and the sport hasn’t been a problem in the slightest, as he learnt to manage time in his first two years on the team.

Always happy to promote the sport, Mohit admitted to leaving one court empty for the general population to play. ‘A lot more people have been coming to play these last two years’, he said happily. He ended the interview by saying that he was happy with the way things were going and one may only wish his team the best.