At 21, doubles specialist Tanisha Crasto continues to rise at after Paris Olympics

The profile of doubles specialists in Indian badminton has risen immensely in the last Olympic cycle. The unprecedented success achieved by the men’s pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and the emergence of the young women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand has made the fans sit up and look beyond the drawsheets of the likes of singles stars such as P. V. Sindhu, H. S. Prannoy and Lakshya Sen.

Another name, someone who displayed the pedigree to be a strong doubles specialist during this period, is Tanisha Crasto.

Tanisha, 21, paired up with former World Championships bronze medallist Ashwini Ponnappa (right).
| Photo Credit:
Ritu Raj Konwar/The Hindu

Tanisha, 21, paired up with former World Championships bronze medallist Ashwini Ponnappa, 14 years her senior, just before the qualification cycle for the Paris Olympics began. The duo won four titles in 12 months and made it to the Summer Games with a late dash.

After a winless campaign in Paris, an emotional Ashwini announced that it was her final Olympics. But for Tanisha, the journey has just begun.

From Dubai to India

Born in Dubai, Tanisha picked up badminton at a very young age. “I was five years old when I started. I just picked up the racket with my dad. My dad has always been from a sports background and he was a great cricketer. But when the grounds started vanishing in Dubai, he took up an indoor sport which was badminton. That’s how I started playing with him one day,” Tanisha told Sportstar.

Tanisha impressed the coaches in the Gulf in her junior days but she also kept visiting India to participate in ranking tournaments to face tougher opponents. For this, her father had to leave his job in an IT company.

“My dad had to travel with me for the majority of my tournaments as I was a young girl. And I don’t think his work supported him taking so much leave,” she said.

“My mom was the only one who was running the entire house. The cost of living in Dubai is very expensive. So, it was actually very difficult for my mom to manage the house. She was also managing the expenses for my tournaments. It was a very rough patch.

India’s Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa play against Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu during their women’s doubles badminton group stage match at Porte de la Chapelle Arena during the 2024 Summer Olympics.
| Photo Credit:
Dita Alangkara

Her plan was to represent India but to get admission into one of the major academies wasn’t easy. “I had to really perform in India for me to be recognised by the coaches and these academies.

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“After an entire year of domination, I was invited to be part of those academies. In 2018, I moved to Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy and since then, I’ve been there,” said the 21-year-old who stays alone in India while her parents continue to reside in Dubai.

Why not singles?

Tanisha revealed that her father had a crucial role in her opting to be a doubles player. “I was a singles player initially when I came to India. However, coming from a different country, my father suggested that I should play two events,” she said.

“I used to play a lot of doubles with my dad and his friends since we didn’t have a lot of players in Dubai. I would train for singles but eventually, when I played a lot of tournaments in India, I realised that singles is not my calling.

“I didn’t enjoy it as much as women’s doubles and mixed doubles. I played two years of juniors. I can say the first year was mainly to understand this, but the next year was solely mixed and women’s doubles,” she added.

In the 2024 season, she formed a new pair with Dhruv Kapila for mixed doubles. They finished runner-up at the recent Syed Modi India International.
| Photo Credit:
Sandeep Saxena/The Hindu

Tanisha had a successful mixed doubles partnership with Ishaan Bhatnagar till the latter suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury in 2023, just before the beginning of the Olympic qualification cycle. The pair was ranked 18th in the world.

She played with K. Sai Pratheek for a while but once the women’s doubles partnership with Ashwini started to give results, she put her complete focus on one category in order to keep the Olympic dream alive.

In the 2024 season, she formed a new pair with Dhruv Kapila for mixed doubles and while the duo has played only six tournaments, some progress has already been made. They finished runner-up at the recent Syed Modi India International.

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“I really enjoy playing with Dhruv. He is a fabulous mixed doubles player. The mind and the skill that he has for mixed doubles is very unique. Our partnership has been going really well,” said Tanisha about her new partner.

While she focuses on mixed doubles, she also continues to play women’s doubles with Ashwini. “I’ve just given her a commitment that till the time she’s playing women’s doubles, I will continue to play with her as I really enjoy playing with her,” she said.

Premier Badminton League should return

Tanisha also mentioned that the franchise-based Premier Badminton League (PBL) should be restarted for better exposure and opportunities for Indian shuttlers. PBL had five seasons from 2016 to 2020 and featured some of the top international stars.

“PBL is such a good way to socialise and connect with the foreign players. It also gives the Indian players a lot of exposure to companies, foundations and sponsors. Many athletes do face this issue including me. Our sport is expensive and travelling for tournaments abroad can easily cost from a lakh to a lakh and a half,” said Tanisha.

“Having these league tournaments was the best way to deal with such issues. For Indian players, it was 100 per cent beneficial. I believe it should continue,” she added.