CHAPTER 17

The badminton stadium was huge. Ira was officially registered as Arjun’s coach for the tournament. So, in case Ira was spotted trying to communicate to Arjun or signal him while he played, Arjun would be disqualified. Unlike before, now, once Arjun stepped inside the court, he had to play the game completely on his terms. Ira would not be able to help him.

Call it luck or blessing, Arjun didn’t have too many people he had to play against under his category. When Ira played the state level, she had faced a lot of opponents. The first day was the qualifiers. A player had to play against multiple people to get into the quarter-finals which would have eight players. Then the semi-finals with four people and lastly the finals.

Ira and Arjun were scanning through the faces of the other players when Ira’s eyes stopped dead at a boy. He was tall, fit and decent.

“Looks like a good set of people to compete with.” Arjun said, his eyes still wavering among the different faces.