New Delhi: For Misha Zilberman, following the international badminton calendar has sometimes meant looking beyond the sporting equation and figuring out where he can actually compete.
Visa difficulties have repeatedly complicated the Israeli shuttler’s career, particularly around tournaments in Indonesia and Malaysia. But after years of dealing with such hurdles, Zilberman has learnt to work around them without allowing them to become a distraction.
“Normally I’m an athlete and sportsman. I don’t go inside the politics,” Zilberman said after making his 14th World Championships appearance in New Delhi.
“That’s not, let’s say, my fight is on court. I’m trying to do my best on court. Off court I just follow the rules.”
The issue has been part of Zilberman’s career for years, with visa problems previously forcing him to miss tournaments. Yet the 37-year-old insists he does not allow the situation to affect him mentally.
“No, I don’t think that it affects much now,” he said when asked about the impact of the difficulties.
“We have so many tournaments and I can choose to go here or here. It’s been like this, I think, all my career.”
For Zilberman, adaptation has become part of the job. But the Israeli’s career has lasted far longer than any individual visa hurdle.
His 14 World Championships appearances are complemented by four Olympic campaigns, yet he insists numbers are not what keep him travelling from tournament to tournament.
“I have the same thing in my heart that keeps me going like when I started. The fire is still there despite the hurdles,” he said.
“I never stop and I continue to practise because I have a passion for this sport and I like the practice, the tournaments, the competitions, like everything.”
That fire has been accompanied throughout his career by his mother Svetlana, a former Soviet player and 1986 European Championship bronze medallist, has been his coach and mentor, and one of the most important figures in his development.
Their relationship goes beyond the conventional player-coach equation. Having worked together for years, she understands what he is trying to build on court and can recognise the small adjustments he needs during a match.
“We know each other from the start. When I play the match, she feels me, she understands my problems and what I’m trying to build,” Zilberman said.
“She helps me to change the small details during and between the rallies. This connection helps a lot and helps me win very tough matches.”
Her role is not limited to tactics. Zilberman said his mother also knows what to say when the speed of a badminton match makes it difficult for him to see the bigger picture.
“She knows the correct things to tell me,” he said. “Sometimes you need to open in my mind some things that I don’t have during the match because it’s tactically a very fast game.”
And the motivation, he believes, works both ways.
“Maybe I give her motivation to continue to wake up every day in the mornings and help me, keep working with me every day,” he said.
At 37, Zilberman does not know how long his career will continue. He is not setting a deadline either.
“I don’t know what will happen in a few months, next year,” he said. “Until I have those dynamic feelings, I just keep going and play and practise.”
For now, the fire remains and and so does the Israeli shuttler’s willingness to keep finding a way onto the court.
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