The sound of success

His intensity of involvement is apparent at the Tata Padukone Badminton Centre at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) where he trains under chief coach Hufrish Nariman. "Badminton gives me the freedom to express myself. The expression comes in the form of the ‘twang’ of the racket. I enjoy it because it is a very thinking game which involves alertness for every second of the point in progress,” says 14-year-old Jehan Daboo of Bombay.

Daboo has moved up to playing at district, state and national level competitions despite a congenital bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss. He was fitted with hearing aids at the age of five months and has been using a cochlear implant (surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound) in one ear and a hearing aid in the other since he was around six years old. As a consequence, any sport involving physical contact was ruled out. "Both my husband Jamshed and I, as well as Jehan himself, were keen that he take up an individual sport that involves both skill and fitness. Jehan has taken to badminton with a passion!” says his mother Vahishtai. "He trains hard every day after school for three hours and has physical training sessions four times a week early mornings.” Any kind of disadvantage involves putting in much more commitment, she adds. "In fact, in Jehan’s case he had the additional issue of a left side weakness almost from birth which he has overcome with intensive neuro developmental therapy (a kind of physiotherapy) and is now coping adequately with some extra exercises. He has overcome this tremendous challenge over several years of hard work on all fronts,” relates Vahishtai.

Jehan Daboo: true grit on court and outside

Studying at the Bombay International School in Standard VIII, the lad has been playing badminton since he was nine years old. "Jehan has been with the Tata Padukone Badminton Centre (a unit of the prestigious Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore) since its inception in May 2009. (The CCI’s climate-controlled courts provide appropriate infrastructure and international standard facilities to the young trainees.) Prior to that, he was under my coaching at the Bombay Gymkhana,” says Nariman, a former India No. 1 and international player who won the Shiv Chhatrapati Award in 1979 and has been the nominated coach for junior and senior Indian badminton teams at the Asian and World Badminton Championships. Emphasizing both skill and fitness, "in her interaction with Jehan, she has always treated him as any other child and never differently,” commends Vahishtai.

In July this year, Jehan won the Bombay Gymkhana tournament Under-15 (U-15) singles title. At the Greater Mumbai District Association championship he was a semifinalist in singles and a quarter finalist in doubles. He also participated in the qualifiers for the UBI (Union Bank of India) All India Sub Junior Major Ranking Badminton Tournament in Bangalore from July 20 to 24, 2011. At the Maharashtra Sub Junior State Badminton Championships at Nanded from July 10 to 14 he reached the second round in singles as well as doubles. In August, Jehan overcame the challenge of competitors to progress to the third round in the boys U-15 singles at the Late Sou Sunila Barve Memorial Sub Junior State Selection Badminton Tournament 2011 in Poona.

"As a family we have always encouraged and guided him to do his best. We accompany him for all the tournaments that the coach suggests in Bombay as well as in Maharashtra and India,” Vahishtai states. Jamshed is presently the chief executive officer of Trent Hypermarket, a 100 percent subsidiary of Trent, which has hypermarkets across India under the name Star Bazaar. In his 25 years with the Tata Group, Jamshed has held top executive positions, among others, with Tata Capital and the Taj Group of Hotels. Vahishtai is an auditory verbal therapist who has her own private practice, teaching babies and children who have a hearing impairment to listen and speak. She also runs a support group called VConnect Foundation for parents of children who have hearing problems. "My deep involvement in this field began 13 years ago, as a parent whose child had been diagnosed with a profound hearing impairment at the age of one month,” writes Vahishtai on www.vconnect foundation.org Jehan has one sister Hanisha who is 16 years old. Community sports events like those conducted by FOZAWAC (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations for Welfare and Culture) have been cradles of competition for promising youngsters. At FOZAWAC’s 2011 badminton tournament, Jehan was the U-16 winner in singles and doubles and the losing semi finalist in the Men’s singles.

Smashes on court do mean sacrifices on other fronts. "I can’t say it is easy balancing studies and badminton. I do miss socializing with my friends or playing other sports that I love,” asserts the teenager who counts among his Indian idols the legendary Prakash Padukone and Sachin Tendulkar.