After riding a real high in 2022, when India snatched the Thomas cup from under the unsuspecting eyes of badminton superpowers like China, Indonesia, Denmark, Malaysia etc and cleaned up the badminton event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games by stunning the rest of the assembled nations, when we claimed gold in women and men singles, gold in men’s doubles and of course the gold in the team championship, we have started to see a slump in our shuttling fortunes.
The start of the international circuit in 2023 has been disastrous as it has seen an alarming slump in the form of our players.
In the five most important tournaments so far, good performance in these events would have seen us getting into good spots for the selection for the 2024 Olympics to be held in Paris: the selection process starts in May this year.
India sent the strongest possible squad to participate in the five tournaments, but we could win just one title, and that’s the men’s doubles title at the Swiss open last week. The five tournaments that I have mentioned above, are the Malaysia Open, the India Open, the German Open, the All England and the Swiss championships.
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So what is wrong with our beloved sport and what SHOULD be done to revive our fortunes?
It is a tall order to write this piece but I will attempt it.
Let us start with the three men’s singles specialists who indeed were the architects of that extraordinary Thomas cup victory. Lakshya Sen, kidambi Srikant and HS Prannoy.
Belying all odds the 22-year-old Lakshya Sen had gatecrashed into the top 10 world ranking, reaching a high of 6th rank. He defeated every player in the top ten list, including the mighty Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, in the German open semifinals. He played in the finals of the All-England and to all pundits and analysts of the game, if a new number one had to emerge in the world, it had to be this Almora boy.
But alas, bad form and “frequent illnesses" as his coach Vimal Kumar opined to me, have been the main causes of his slump from world 6 to 25 as per BWF’s latest rankings.
“He has had this problem of getting fever often, ever since his nose surgery last year. This has affected his movements and concentration" Vimal Kumar said.
“Another reason why his ranking has slipped drastically is that he lost the points accumulated in the German Open and All England of last year". (Points are shed after the completion of one year).
“So that is the problem but I am sure he will bounce back. We are also taking medical advice for his problem with the fever." says the former chief coach of India, Vimal Kumar.
Lakshya played in all five tournaments but failed to go beyond 2nd round in any event. In the Malaysia Open, he lost to teammate HS Prannoy. The bearded and stylish Prannoy beat him 22-24/21-12/21-18. At the India open, he smashed past Prannoy in the first round 21-14/21-15, showing us what he is capable of. But in the second round, he fell to Dane Rasmus Gemke, who won 16-21/21-18/21-15.
In the German Open, he allowed the French ace, Christo Popov, to put him on the defensive most of the time in the 21-19/21-16 win which was very surprising, to say the least.
In the All England, the Indian shuttler started with a bang against the very dangerous and versatile Chou Tien Chen, winning 21-18/21-19. But the very next round saw him playing without much imagination, slow on his feet and making ludicrous mistakes for one with his experience. Anders Anderson of Denmark showed him the exit 13-21/15-21 in a very one-sided match.
In the Swiss Open, Sen very surprisingly fell in the first round to Hong Kong player Lee Cheuk Liu 18-21/11-21.
Lakshya will have to roll up his socks as he is the one player who can lift us out of the abyss In which we are wallowing now.
The reason is that both Prannoy and Kidambi are slowing down, even though Prannoy especially played some good badminton. In the Malaysian Open he reached the quarter-finals after defeating Sen and Indonesian Chiro Auro Dwi 21-19/15-21/21-26.
As stated above Prannoy lost to Sen in the first round at the All England and he lost in the second round to Anthony Ginting of Indonesia 20-22/21-15/17-21. But in the next championship, the Swiss Open, he again recovered his form and shocked the All-England runners-up Shi Yu Qi 21-17/19-21/ 21-17.
This was a real thriller with Prannoy at his scintillating best. He was a shade faster and the better player at the net.
It can be said that of the three Thomas cup stalwarts from India, Prannoy gave the best display. However, it was clear that he is getting tired faster than before and he takes longer to recover.
That is the age factor which is more apparent when Kidambi Srikant takes to the court.
In the Malaysian Open, Srikanth crashed out in round 1, to Japanese Kento Nishimoto 19-21/14-21. The Indian Open saw Kidambi bring bundled out in the first round by Viktor Axelsen 14-21/19-21. Ditto in the All England as he played a very subdued game crashing out in round 1, once again, to the fast-rising Japanese, Naraoke, 17-21/15-21.
In the Swiss Open, he did one better when he reached the second round where he lost to Lee Cheuk Yin of Hong Kong 20-22/16-21.
The former top-ranked player in the world must reflect on and must analyse his career. With age not on his side he must consider retiring at the opportune time. Otherwise, he will be playing like Saina Nehwal, also a former world number 1, who keeps playing but does not go beyond the first round in most tournaments.
The problem that Indian badminton is facing is that the next generation of shuttlers in men’s singles is not good enough to be top-ranked.
These include the new national champion Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George, Priyanshu Rajawat, etc, who are still struggling. It may take a few years before they become a force. That is why it is very important to have Lakshya Sen firing bullets all over again on the circuit.
Ditto is the problem in women singles. With Saina struggling to stay afloat, the burden of leading the Indian attack has fallen on PV Sindhu. But beset by injuries she is woefully out of form and has not been progressing beyond the first or second round.
“Sindhu can always make a comeback. But she is playing very tentatively and not showing much confidence. She has a natural attacking game and that is her forte. She is 26 years old. There is no reason why she can’t get back to the top," Vimal Kumar said.
In Malaysia, Carolina Marin, the Spanish legend, defeated Sindhu 21-12/
10-21/21-15 in the India ope. Sindhu was a terrible disappointment as she repeated last year’s performance. She was defeated by Supanida Katethon 14-21/ 20-22.
Taking a break from the German open, Sindhu looked fresh and raring to go for the jugular of her opponents. But this time it was Chinese Zhang Yi Man who toyed with the Indian badminton queen, winning 21-17/21-11.
In the Swiss open, another shock awaited Indian badminton. She took care of a local girl to set up a second-round clash with Indonesian qualifier Putri Kusuma only to lose 21-16/12-21/21-18.
And just like in men’s singles, the women are going through a crisis as well.
The problem that we will face in times to come is to scout a strong girl or girls, train them hard, make them physically strong and make sure they do not lose out to the opposition in strength and fitness.
But this is easier said than done.
In the tournaments, Malvika Bansod, Akarshi Kashyap, and Tasneem Mir played as well as they could, but they could not take a game off any opponent.
Gayatri Gopichand and Teressa jolly are the new stars in making. It is so ironic that for years India was known for its prowess in singles. But now it is the men’s doubles pair of Sai Satwick Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who dominate and have ensured that doubles are not neglected.
Similarly, our two girls Gayathri Gopichand and Teressa Jolly are slowly but surely stepping into the large shoes of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.
These two had a good outing, with the cherry on the cake being a semifinal slot in the All England just like last year.
On their way there, they took care of 4 highly rated and experienced pairs, including from Thailand, the 7th seeds Jangephon and Rawinda, to defeating them 21-18/21-14 in 42 minutes. They then beat Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hiroto 21-14/24-22. Their next victims were from China, Li Weng Wai/ Li Xuan Xuan who were defeated in a tense struggle 21-14/18-21/21-12
What comes across now seems to be two mature girls combining well. The synchronisation is perfect since the understanding between the two is excellent.
They are rotating well, have tight serves and are willing to go into the attack at the first opportunity. Makings of true blue-blooded doubles mind.
They lost in the semifinals to Korean pair Baek Ha Na and Keep So Hee tamely 10-21/10-21.
And of course, the stars of the Indian squad were the pair of dynamic duo Saisatwick and Chirag Shetty.
They have become as good as the best in the event. Highly aggressive in their approach to the game, and they are equally good in defence.
The good thing is that they rotate strikes well. And they are focused. One great thing about them is their middle-line defence. Both position themselves nicely to take the shuttle in that area and turn defence into offence.
Starting the season at the Malaysian Open as the 6th BWF ranked pair, they put it across Choi Sol Gyu and Kim won Ho of Korea in a 21-16/21-13 win. The second round saw them defeating the top Indonesian pair of Mohammad Fikri and Bagas Maulana 21-19/22-20.
In the quarter-finals, the Indians ran into Liu You Chuan and Ou Xuan Yi of China and won 17-21/22-20/21-9. But another Chinese pair of Liang Wei Long and Wang Chang proved too strong as the Indian pair were defeated 21-16/15-21/21-15.
Sai Satwick despite being very fit, is also very prone to injuries. The pair could not defend their title at the Indian open as a shoulder injury to Sai forced them to give a walkover.
In the Swiss Open, they realised they had a chance and they played accordingly.
Mathias Boe the national doubles coach and one who looks after the training of the two told me after the Thomas cup, “these guys are always hungry for more training."
“Even when we finish a gruelling session and others are packing up, these two want more. They are playing well, no doubt but let me tell you their best is yet to come."
This is the spirit they have shown always. No wonder they are now literally feared in the BWF tour. In Basel, they escaped by a whisker in their second-round match against Feng Chen Lee and Peng Jen Lee 12-21/21-17/28-26 in a fast-paced affair which kept them on the court for a good 78 minutes.
This was a match where their character showed. Three times they faced match point, but they never gave up. Cool, calm and collected they wrapped up this match in style.
They played three gruelling matches in the tournament which went to three games, before landing in the finals against Reng Xian Yu and Tan Qiang In of China. Sai Satwick and Chirag won 21-19/22-20.
This Indian squad has a lot of hard work to be done and the coaches headed by Pullela Gopichand have to burn the midnight oil and come up with ideas to bring Indian badminton on track.
The scenario is bleak as apart from Sai Satwick and Chirag Shetty we do not have a title winner. Podium finish has seemingly become a distant dream.
Both men’s and women’s singles events are in dire straits and require major surgery. In mixed doubles, no one can pick up the mantle.
Gayatri Gopichand and Teressa Jolly are no doubt playing well, but they have a long way to go before being called match winners under any conditions.
So there are problems no doubt but nothing that cannot be sorted out.
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