Marcus Hall reports from Kedleston Road
Asish Chittamura expressed his delight following Derby getting the three points in men’s badminton, with a 5-3 win against Hertfordshire at Varsity 2024.
Chittamura featured in two games, winning the first game 2-1 in sets, with the last two sets being narrowly decided by two points in each set – whilst the second game was the complete opposite with the last leg being a convincing 21-5 win.
This is after a closely contested game with the Derby player realising the difference in the first and second game: “In the first game, I didn’t warm up enough,” he admitted. “I couldn’t get into it, I just made loads of errors and basically I gave him the win when I could’ve won it.”
Preparation is key for any athlete, good routines in place will set up key steps in getting the most optimal performance possible, Chittamura enjoys his music and stated that it helps him “get in the zone” and furthermore emphasises the importance of what a decent warm up can do.
Setbacks are a part of any sport you participate in, after Chittamuras loss in the first game he needed to react swiftly and bounce back in the second game.
He siad: “After the first game, I needed to win the second game.” Chittamuras mentality tweaked going into the second game, “I can’t lose both games”, he reiterated. “I go with the mindset from the start that I need to win both.”
Chittamura was tired but also happy after his first varsity experience expanding on the atmosphere it provides “Everyone was really supportive, could definitely hear all cheering on.” Looking ahead Chittamura realises his areas needed for improvement with him saying “I just need to calm down when they try to annoy me, that’s a big part of my game just rushing everything, apart from that I am fine.” This is following a few altercations in the first game versus Hertfordshire experienced player Ben Vranjkovic who has been playing badminton for 20 years.
Derby Uni Footy Journos 
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