Eleven-year-old Darius Pardiwala, who has been playing badminton since the age of six, says he would like to be "75% a badminton player” when he grows up, and if not, an architect or a doctor. The confident tyke says he loves playing badminton "because you sweat and get all the bad stuff out.” An admirer of Lee Chong Wei (whose name he thoughtfully spelt out for us when he spoke to Parsiana), the controversial Malay-Chinese badminton player who was ranked first worldwide for 199 consecutive weeks, the young player loves to win at the game, but says "I know I cannot win all the time.”
Darius Pardiwala: rigorous regimen
Having won the Under 13 Boys’ Singles title at a district level tournament in June 2015, Pardiwala, along with his team mates represented Bombay Scottish School, where he studies in the fifth grade, at a tournament held by the Maharashtra Badminton Association and went on to win the under 14 boys’ events in August 2015. They brought the title home for the school, after many years, his proud mother Farzana informs Parsiana via email.
Describing him a true representative of the Zodiac sign Capricorn, Farzana exults that the lad is "determined, focussed and fairly mature for his age.” She attributes the interest that Darius and his brother Jehan have in sports to their father Dinshaw, who despite a highly demanding professional life as an orthopedic surgeon heading the department at Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Versova, not only manages to play with them but is himself pretty good at most sports activities.
Darius started off his coaching at the Mumbai Cricket Association. It was during this time that he went on to represent his school at the Mumbai School Sports Association tournament held at the Cricket Club of India in 2014. "To everyone’s surprise, including his father’s and mine, he went on to win the under 10, boys’ singles event,” recalls Farzana.
Soon after, he started coaching under Jitesh Padukone of the Padukone Shuttlers Academy at Matunga in Bombay. Four hours a day, seven days a week, states the young mother. Besides, he trains for an hour three days a week for strength, endurance, balance and flexibility.
Darius has "little time for friends, movies or family outings. Studies need to be managed daily, no matter how late or tiring it gets,” he says while speaking to Parsiana. Looking at the brighter side of the boy’s efforts, Farzana states that this regimen teaches him time management, discipline, the importance of hard work and focus, and above all, the ability to take loss in the right spirit.