My journey has just begun, Tanisha says

22-YEAR-OLD TARGETS TOP 10 SPOT BY END OF YEAR

- BY A.K.S. SATISH

The tears didn't come immediately. But when they did, Tanisha Crasto was alone in her room, the silence louder than the roars she was used to hearing from courtside.

Her Olympic dream, one she had carried with her from childhood, had ended not with a bang, but with heartbreak.

"After the Olympics, I was mentally down," Tanisha told Gulf News. "There was a lot of pressure. Everybody expected a medal from me. I just wasn't able to give my best."

The 22-year-old, who lived and took her baby steps in badminton in Dubai, had shouldered the hopes of many. But when the results didn't go her way, it wasn't just public expectation that weighed heavy - it was her own.

"I kept asking myself: 'What did I do wrong? Why did this happen?'" she says. "And for a while, I didn't have the answers."