Adarsh Kandika is making the city and country proud with his talent on and off the woodball court. In conversation with CE, the multi-faceted youngster talks about all things woodball, science, society service and solutions
From bravely taking up a not-so-popular sport for the love of it, to acing it and making the country proud, Hyderabad’s prodigy Adarsh Kandika was born for more than just woodball. All of 23, he has written two books, will soon write another, holds 3 degrees and finishing another, while also preparing for the civil services! The star of a lad gets candid about representing India at the upcoming South Asian Championships, his time management skills and the ultimate goal.
For the uninitiated, woodball involves a mallet being used to pass a ball through gates (on grass, sand or indoors) by a stroke or successive strokes, Adarsh explains. Whoever passes the ball within the least number of attempts is adjudged the winner, with each team consisting of 2 to 4 players.
It would probably be safe to bet that a majority of readers would not have heard of the sport woodball and Adarsh himself didn’t until his father encouraged him to pursue it at the age of 12. “My father was a ball badminton champion and was overjoyed when I showed interest in the field of sports. (Adarsh’s younger sibling keeps a mile away from sports!)” he says, adding that not once does he regret taking up a sport that most people have no idea about. “That said, I must and will strive to do all I can in my power, to take woodball as far as I can. But the biggest thing I can do to inch closer to that goal is to win as many medals for the country on an international stage.” Apart from his parents and family, Adarsh names his coach Sandeep as one of his biggest supporters throughout the journey.
Adarsh went on to win a silver and gold at the 2018 and 2019 Woodball inter-state and national championships, respectively. He also clinched a bronze in the 1,500-meter race (athletic). He also represented the country at the Malaysian Woodball World Cup, and will soon do so at the South Asian Championships too. “Even as I work hard to bring home gold, I hope the victory will be for the sport and not mine alone,” says a modest Adarsh. He adds, “It’s sad that a country, which excels at close to 30 different sports, has its people talking about and training for only the top five. A lot things get better for other sports when this problem is addressed — for instance, woodball would not be a costly game like it is today. The kits cost a lot when compared to cricket, tennis, football and more. The worst part is that they are not even available at most stores. The government’s intervention will go a long way in solving this issue. Schools and coaches can do more than they believe they can.”
You’d think for a champion to remain where he is and to grow to even greater heights, sports are all they’d give their time and energy. But that doesn’t hold good for Adarsh — the prodigy holds three degrees already — BA, B.Com Finance and a post-graduation in Banking Finance. Well, the busy brain spoke to CE just minutes before he walked in to write his exams for his fourth degree — an LLB. Wait until he shares what he hopes to actually do with these degrees — crack the civil services exam and serve the public! “So I guess you can say I have two long-term goals — winning gold for the country and serving her public well,” he smiles.
That’s not all, Adarsh is also a writer who loves fiction and has published one book called Indian Culture and Evolution, is working on his second, Anamika, and will soon start work on the third, Aliens and the Truth. “Apparently, no writer from India has actually explored the subject of extraterrestrial fiction, so if things go as planned, I could be the first such Indian author,” he shares. Apart from these, he also is the head and founder of the social group Connectivity of Young Brains where several like-minded individuals work on the ground to bring to light problems that society has no touch with, while also working out solutions for the same.While just learning about his work exhausts some of us, the ‘Adarsh baalak’ says he’s a man of practical goals and credits time management, limited socialising and meditation for helping him reach his many goals.