Less than three months after his arrival in Auckland, an international student from India has become a source of admiration among students and sportspersons, with his superb playing skills in Badminton.
Sunil Dahiya was recently selected to play in the International Player category (as a member of the Auckland Badminton Association) in the Auckland Under 23 Men’s Representative Team and the Auckland Senior Division One (Wisdon Cup) and Division Two (Slazenger Cup).
Other tournaments to his credit include those organised by the Punjabi Association of Waikato (in which he won the Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles), the Li-Ning North Island Championship North Harbour Open 2012 (in which he won the trophy for Men’s Singles Plate).
Born and raised in a middle class family in Haryana, India, Sunil was attracted to Badminton, watching his father Kuldeep Singh playing the game.
The proclivities of the young man were towards karate, since his elder brother Naveen Kumar evinced keen interest in martial arts, becoming a national player.
Awards and honours
But Sunil turned to Badminton when he was five years old, since the game had promising prospects.
He was a distinguished player throughout his scholastic career, from school to university. He was a star performer, participating in a number of tournaments including those of the Central Board of Secondary Education (North Zone) Badminton Championship, Pramod Mahajan Badminton Championship and many others.
He won the top honour at the Inter-Institutional Badminton Competition (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and the Gurgaon Badminton Championship (Under 19 Singles and Doubles and Men’s Singles and Doubles).
He was the Runner-Up and Best Player at the first Chiranjilal Ansal Gold Cup Memorial Tournament. The University of Delhi honoured with the ‘Best Player’ and the ‘Best All-Rounder of the Year’ awards.
As a member of the National Cadet Corps, Sunil attended the Annual Training and Army Attachment Camp, at which he earned honours. He also served as a Sports Specific Volunteer at the 19th Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in 2010.
“I will spread my time between study and badminton in New Zealand and so far things have been going well. My short-term goals are to seek sponsorship to play the game,” he said.
