4 min readUpdated: Jun 26, 2026 01:28 PM IST
Rounak Chouhan started playing badminton at 8, watching his sister and inspired by his mother who played the sport in college. But there was one other thing common in her advice to what he followed in his favourite footballer – Cristiano Ronaldo. “She always says give 100 % even on a bad day. With Ronaldo it’s his hardwork that’s inspiring. I used to watch him and jump every time from the back court. It became muscle memory,” Chouhan would tell The Indian Express after the last Junior World’s.
On Thursday, Chouhan twice put his formidable attacking game to lethal use to swamp World No 6 Chou Tien Chen with 6 straight points, and won 21-17, 26-24 at the US Open Super 300 in Fullerton, California.
Chouhan was on the offensive from the outset against the top seed Taiwanese. But the young Indian from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, showed remarkable guts to take the fight to the 35-year-old known for his impeccable shuttle control. Chouhan literally fought for every point after Tien Chen went 17-15 up in the opener. It was an attack unlike any seen from an Indian MS player at 18, and a sign of things to come.
Having taken the first set with a flurry of 6 points, Chouhan found himself staring at a 11-17 deficit. He again amped it up to level at 17 with 6 points, and then showed stunning fight to beat back 4 set points, and converting his second match point against an opponent built on never-say-die DNA.
The world juniors had been a tough and toughening experience for Chouhan, who trains at NCE, Guwahati. Even as India picked a team bronze, it had hit Chouhan that in international badminton, he needed to shut out noise, focus on breathing and calm himself down. “Focus on strokes, breathe properly,” he would say.
When he followed his sister to the Police Grounds courts at Raipur, it was former coach, now BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra who would guide him. Moving to ITM University’s 8 courts at Uparwara broadened his horizons, and helped him choose badminton over cricket which he played too. It helped that his mother had been an athlete. His father is a businessman.
Lin Dan was his badminton idol, but Cristiano Ronaldo truly proved a totem, as Chouhan dug the Portuguese legend’s work ethic. The way he jumped in the box connecting to headers, how he celebrated imprinted on Chouhan’s brain. Execution was a different matter.
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“Frim when young I learnt to jump frim back court. But the muscle memory needed explosive sessions,” he said. He would start working with S&C trainers at Reliance Foundation just to biomechanically sort out his jump and balance and stability after landing. His back court game is impressive for his age, though work is ongoing on back court variations.
“The half smash, drop I need to use more. I need to learn the art of being aggressive and calm at the same time,” he said, looking for badminton’s golden balance. “I get too aggressive at times.”
His win over Chou Tien Chen addressed a complex goal he had set himself: “After a long high paced rally, the breathing rate is high. How to handle next 10-15 seconds, that’s the goal.” For that, he idolized Lakshya Sen. “He’s calm when playing aggressive.” He would also want consistency at the net.
How does he rate his own defense? “8 on 10,” says the World No 80. Chouhan next plays Israeli Misha Zilberman.
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India’s eternal favourite Kidambi Srikanth also advanced, defeating Malaysian Olympic bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 21-13. Tanvi Sharma, Devika Sihag and Rakshitha Sree also advanced in women’s singles.
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