Chetan Anand Buradagunta is a popular Indian badminton player, and considered as one of the next best talent after Prakash Padukone, Syed Modi and Pullela Gopichand. He had been extremely successful in badminton and won National Badminton champion four times in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2010. He possesses the career best ranking of no. 11, though his ranking dropped to 54 since October 2010 as a result of ankle injury. Chetan is also a proud recipient of Arjun Award.
Early Life of Chetan Anand
Chetan Anand was born on July 8, 1980 to Mr. Harshavardhan and Mrs. Suguna in Vijayawada, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. He has a younger brother Sandeep. Anand. Anand was educated in Veeramachaneni Paddayaa Siddhartha Public School, Vijayawada. Further, he earned an Engineering Degree in Mechanical Manufacturing from Potluri. V. Prasad Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Vijayawada.
Right from his young age Chetan Anand was keen in the game of badminton and always practised the game wherever he got the opportunity.
Career of Chetan Anand
In 2007 he defeated Air India`s Anand Pawar in the finals of the Indian National Badminton Championships held at Patna in Bihar. Chetan Anand interest in badminton was sparked from at early age and was encouraged greatly by his school; which took a special interest in sports. His career began in the year 1992, when he was just 12 years of age. Prakash Padukone, legendary Indian badminton player, encouraged the young talent and sent him to the World Academy camp at Kuala Lumpur to sharpen his skills. Chetan Anand managed to win the Singles Title at a high ranking event that was held at Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Further, he also reached the semi-final round of the senior National Badminton championship tournament.
Chetan Anand won the Junior National Badminton Championship in 1999, and again four years later, he grabbed the first Senior National Badminton Championship in the year 2003. In 2002, Chetan Anand won the Gold Medal at the National Games. In the same year, he also emerged as the champion at the Syed Modi Memorial tournament. In 2003 again, he won the Canara Bank Ranking tournament.
In the year 2002, Chetan Anand made his debut in the International Badminton arena. At that time, he was a member of the Indian Badminton team that was participating at the Thomas Cup event. He entered the Quarter Final round of the India Asian Satellite tournament in 2002 and the Australia Ballarat International tournament in 2003. He subsequently defeated several well known international badminton players in a number of badminton tournaments. He has won several titles and championships both at domestic as well as international level such as the Le Volant d`Or, an international open held in Toulouse, France in the year 2004. In the year 2005 he won the Irish international and the Welsh international.
Further, in 2004, Chetan again entered the Quarter Final round of the Indian Asian Satellite championship. Moreover, he won the Cyprus Badminton International tournament in the year 2007. Chetan Anand ended up as a Runner Up at the India International Challenge tournament in the same year. He won the Gold Medal at Kenya International tournament in 2008 and also won the XXI Spanish International tournament as well as the Nepal International Series tournament. In 2008, he won two more tournaments and these tournaments are the Yonex Czech International tournament and the Bitburger Open Grand Prix tournament.
Awards Received by Chetan Anand
Government of India has conferred several awards, including the distinguished Arjuna Award for his brilliance in the sport, and Anand`s reputation is established as one of the great Indian players in world badminton today.
Personal Life of Chetan Anand
Chetan Anand, on 17 July 2005, married Jwala Gutta, a left-handed Indian badminton player of mixed Chinese and Indian descent who has won the National Badminton Doubles Championship seven times. Though recently, the couple`s marriage fallen apart, following a speculation that Jwala had an extra marital affair with Former Cricket Indian cricket player and Captain Mohammed Azaruddin.
