PETALING JAYA: Malaysians have often heard about successful Olympians who have made the nation proud, but what about those who chased the dream but were unable to bring it to fruition?
Stephanie Shalini Sukumaran is one such individual who gave her all in the hope of representing Malaysia in badminton some day. Even so, after years of training, competing and countless injuries, she was unable to play for her country.
But taking it on the chin, the 33-year-old insists she has absolutely no regrets as the entire journey has been exhilarating and memorable on every level.
She tells FMT that she picked up the sport at the tender age of 10, inspired by her father. “My father and I always played badminton at home and we used the gate as a net,” Stephanie says.
She also vividly remembers her indescribable joy at being called up to be part of the 2012 London Olympic training programme.
“I remember back in 2008 when my dad showed me a newspaper article stating I had been roped into the 2012 Olympic training programme.”
Despite knowing full well how difficult and demanding the training programme would be, Stephanie gave it her all every day in hopes that she would make the cut. At the time, she ranked between fourth and fifth place on the team.
But everyone knew that only one athlete would make it from each country and unfortunately for her, she could not represent Malaysia at the Olympics as a badminton player that year.
In hindsight, she tells FMT that though she had a late start to the game, it did not stop her from chasing her dream or let it dampen her spirits when she was not chosen for the Olympics.
“All I wanted was to be able to represent Malaysia like my idol Wong Choong Hann, who was also a left-handed player like me.”
By the age of 14, she was selected to join the national junior team under the Badminton Association of Malaysia. Training was gruelling as Stephanie had to train for hours on end every day to be on par with her other teammates.
As exciting as this accomplishment was, it came with a lot of sacrifice and hard work at such a young age.
She remembers it as being extremely tough juggling sports and school.
“We had training sessions every day and I had to be away from my family as I was studying at the Bukit Jalil Sports School, which is a boarding school. We were taught to focus fully on badminton and studies only,” Stephanie remembers.
Back then, she’d be up at 6am to undergo physical training for two hours, followed by school from 9.30am till 2pm. Then it was back on the courts for another three hours of training.
Her rigorous regime included 70km to 80km daily track runs as well as stair sprinting up Batu Caves, six times every week. This of course, came with a price.
“I injured my shoulder, elbow and even sprained my ankle about eight times during that period.”
But being a trooper, she kept her spirits up even after she suffered a bad knee injury in 2004 which meant absolutely no badminton for three months.
“It was not easy to bounce back after my knee injury, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I trained hard every day to make a comeback,” Stephanie says.
Her hard work paid off when she won the national U-18 title in 2005 and was selected to represent Malaysia in the Asian and World Junior Championships.
Despite not making the Olympics, she kept that fire burning by playing in the German League and World Universities.
After her time overseas, Stephanie returned to the Badminton Association of Malaysia in 2015 and took on the role of the association’s media officer.
“I wanted to give back to the country for all it had done for me, from university scholarships, character building, overseas exposure and finally to a career.”
While she did miss out on her life’s one dream, Stephanie is still grateful that she was able to represent her country in other tournaments and is still able to contribute towards Malaysian sports through her career.
“Throughout my life, I have been inspired by many people, from my coaches to the players and even my colleagues.”
In the same way, Stephanie hopes that her story will inspire many young athletes out there to chase their dreams despite the setbacks and disappointments that come along the way.
“I hope that the young athletes of the future continue to push on even though they know there’s a possibility of falling short because the journey itself, should come with no regrets.” - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.