On a gloomy Saturday evening in Paris, Clifford Crasto, his wife Tulip and son, Cristiano, happily embraced the Parisian rain as they stood in the queue to get inside Porte de la Chapelle Arena, the venue for the badminton events at the Paris Olympics.
Years of sacrifices were about to bear the sweetest fruit as Clifford and Tulip’s daughter, Tanisha, was on the cusp of realising the biggest dream of her life.
The Dubai-born shuttler is representing India, the country of her origin, at the Olympics.
But hours before the start of her first match in the women’s doubles event, her parents and younger brother were not her only supporters waiting to witness the Olympic moment.
Sydelle Varella, her old classmate in Indian High School, Dubai, had just arrived in Paris from London, to cheer for her best friend.
Tanisha, 20, and Sydelle grew up in the same building in Bur Dubai and took the same school bus every morning.
The two best friends shared every small thing and one big ambition: Tanisha’s was to play at an Olympic and Sydelle’s was to cheer for her from the stands.
“We have been friends since Grade 1 in Dubai. She started playing badminton even before I met her. So we became very close friends. Even then she had the dream of playing in the Olympics and she used to tell me, ‘You know when I go to the Olympics, you have to come and watch me play, no matter which part of the world you would be in at that time,” Sydelle told the Khaleej Times over the phone from Paris.
“So now I made it a point to come here.”
While Tanisha left Dubai to join Hyderabad’s famous Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in 2018, Sydelle’s family relocated to the UK where she is now doing an internship at a pharma company.
Despite the huge geographical distances, the two school buddies have remained very close.
Lost for words
Tanisha and her partner doubles stalwart Ashwini Ponnappa, may have lost their first match to South Korea’s world number eight pair Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong in Paris, but that failed to dampen the spirit of the Crasto family and Sydelle.
“I have got no words to describe the feeling actually that she is playing at the Olympics and I am here to watch her play. It’s so overwhelming. You know everything she dreamed of as a child has come true. I am so happy for her ,” she said.
“She has worked so hard, I have seen her work really hard to achieve her goals, training for a long number of hours. She used to train even at the weekends, she has worked really hard to reach this stage.
“So when I came to know that she qualified for the Olympics, I was like ‘I am coming, no matter what’. Actually, it was a bit hard for me, I just started an internship, but I felt I had to come to Paris because Tanisha is playing.”
Tulip was overwhelmed to see Sydelle and her brother, Sinclair, in Paris for her daughter’s Olympic debut.
“We are so happy to see them, after six years we are seeing these kids,” she said.
“You know we used to stay in the same building. They were in the same class, the same school. Their presence has made this moment even more beautiful.”