India’s Smashing Rise In The Game Of Badminton
· Free Press Journal
Indian badminton stars’ performance at the just-concluded World Badminton Championship (the equivalent of a World Cup), though below the best-case scenario, was yet another indication that India is on the verge of declaring itself a world power in the game. For a few years now, there have been signs that badminton is getting bigger and better in India. The fantastically organised World Championship and the crowds (over 8000 in the high-priced ticketed event) that gathered at the refurbished, humongous J D Jadav indoor stadium in Delhi were another indication of badminton’s popularity in a cricket-mad country. All it needs is a couple of big wins for badminton to become a fully Indian game once again. By the way, India is believed to have invented and is the home of another version of badminton called ‘ball badminton’, played with a yellow fluffy ball, but that game has seen a decline, though nationals are held every year.
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India got one medal and two quarter-final finishes. Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost in the semi-finals to the top Chinese pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning, but their game, and that of India’s other players, showed we were on the right track. The emergence of Ayush Shetty, who disposed of the world No. 1 seed, China’s Shi Yuqi, in the first round itself, was spectacular proof of India as a rising power. India will soon have two men, Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty (now ranked 22), in the world’s top ten. Sindhu is ranked 9; the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chirag Shetty are No. 1, though they lost narrowly. Tressa and Gayatri, groomed by Gayatri’s father Pullela Gopichand, are at 9. Kerala’s Treesa has developed a powerful backhand smash, and Gayatri, marshalling the net, has deft touches, and both of them retrieve well. Modern badminton is now more about deft touches and feints—modern carbon graphite racquets make retrievals of smashes easy—and so games become battles of attrition. China’s world No. 3 ranked Wang cramped up twice in the third set of her tumultuous battle with Sindhu in the quarter-final but never gave up. That burning desire to win at any cost should be utmost in any player’s mind, and Indian players will do well to imbibe that from the Chinese, who now dominate badminton, pushing aside Malaysia and Indonesia, the erstwhile superpowers. Japan is holding its own with two of its players in the finals. On their day, India’s top 10 players can dominate any other player, like Ayush showed.
Badminton, which is still an Asian-Chinese game, is surprisingly shifting Westward, with France emerging suddenly out of nowhere. Frenchman Alex Lamier’s unexpected gold medal win is an example. France has made a plan to dominate badminton, and India will do well to have a coordinated plan to reach the top, only a step away now, and stay there.