Hard work and dedication over the past 10–11 years have finally brought Jalandhar boy Viraj Sharma the much-awaited recognition he has striven for. He was on Monday declared India’s No. 1 badminton player in the under-17 boys’ category.Viraj shot into the limelight when he won silver in the under-17 singles final against Nabha’s Jagsher Khangurra at the 37th Sub-Junior National Badminton Championship held in Bhubaneswar in December 2025.Following the event, he was selected by the Infosys Foundation and is currently training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru. Before that, he received coaching at Rise Sports School in Noida.His proud parents, Rahul Sharma and Sanjita Sharma, said, “It is such a big day for us. He was just six when he started playing the game. He used to get up at 4 am every day for the morning practice session. We spent the entire day running around with him, shuttling between his practice sessions, school and the daily grind. It was coach Parveen Kumar who trained him during his formative years at an academy at DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology. He was only 11 when we sent him to the academy in Noida for more professional training. Since then, there has been no looking back. He kept improving, and finally, the big day has arrived.”Rahul Sharma, who runs a sanitary hardware business in Jalandhar, said, “We just want to see Viraj perform well internationally in the years to come. Thankfully, he has also been selected under Khelo India, which will provide him with significant support.”Ritin Khanna, secretary of the Punjab Badminton Association, said, “Viraj’s success is another major milestone for the Punjab association. Recently, Wazir Sharma of Ludhiana was ranked India’s No. 1 in the under-15 category. Like them, Tanvi Sharma, Inayat Gulati and Jagsher Khangurra are among the other star shuttlers from Punjab who have recently secured the No. 1 spot in different categories of the game.”Ritin Khanna and MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer had gone to Mohali airport the previous evening to receive Jagsher Khangurra, who arrived from Cairo after winning a bronze medal at the Junior World Badminton Championships.