Badminton was the sport that India regarded with most promise. Over the past decade and half, it quietly managed to make its own corner in a sporting landscape dominated by cricket and its various versions. The reasons were straight and simple. The girls and boys of Indian badminton delivered often – and usually with minimum fuss and fanfare. Today, however, the shuttle game is experiencing diminishing returns. Poor results in the last two years are a cause for concern, but what is more alarming is that far from being a blip in the larger scheme, the future appears bleak. There are no names to succeed or build on the exploits of the once-fabled Saina and Sindhu, the former, a pioneering star now 35, and the 29-year-old double Olympic medallist struggling to clear the initial hurdles. From once clinching three women’s singles medals in successive Olympics, scaling the peak of men’s badminton by winning the Thomas Cup in 2022 and winning the first Asian Games men’s doubles gold in 2023, giving the Chinese an almighty scare with our rise and intent, to currently not having a single player in the semifinals of the All England in 2025, the fortunes of Indian shuttlers have plummeted. Barring Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and to an extent Lakshya Sen, the rest of the Indians are no longer pulling their weight. The days of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy and Satwik-Chirag being the tournament favourites look a distant memory now. But it had been coming for a while now. Ever since HS Prannoy’s Malaysia Open Super-500 title in January 2023, a worrying trend has emerged with the Indians not being able to win a singles title. Only the doubles duo of Satwik-Chirag managed to win a couple of titles. In April this year, India registered one of its poorest performances at the Sudirman Cup. Having lost to Denmark and Indonesia with an identical margin of 1-4, India exited in the group stage. Singles, a worry Things could not have been more promising than in the years of the last decade. A year after Saina Nehwal won the Olympic bronze at the London Games, Sindhu arrived on the scene with a bronze at the World championships in 2013. While Saina and Sindhu were winning medals, Parupalli Kashyap, Kidambi Srikanth, Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth too started gaining attention in men’s section. Srikanth would go on to become the World No. 1 and in 2017, win four Super Series titles. In 2019 Sindhu was crowned world champion. The same year Sai Praneeth won bronze at the World championships. This May, Srikanth gave us glimpses of his former self when he made the final of the Malaysia Masters. The outing fizzled out even though it would prove a tremendous personal boost for the 32-year-old former Thomas Cup-winning captain (2022). Owing to his low ranking (65th during the Malaysian event) Srikanth failed to get entry in the next few tournaments. At the time of writing, Srikanth had bowed out of the US Open (Super 300) in the first round. The Satwik-Chirag pair arrived on the scene to assert India’s dominance in men’s doubles, notably at the Commonwealth Games. Of late, they too have been struggling with fitness issues and are yet to reach a final despite competing in six tournaments this year. The onus to lead the men’s singles challenge is on Lakshya Sen. Despite showing a lot of promise, reaching the All England final and winning a bronze at the Worlds, the Almora shuttler has won only two Super-500 titles. The wait for a Super-750 or Super-1000 title continues. Lakshya apart, there’s no one at the level of even a Srikanth or Prannoy. It is the women’s scene, however, that’s more worrisome. There’s no clear answer to who’ll lead the Indian challenge. Understandably, Saina and Sindhu are big shoes to fill, but the younger lot is nowhere near the standards the illustrious duo set as they took rapid strides early on in their careers. Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap, Unnati Hooda, Anmol Kharb, Tanvi Patri and others are trying to fill in the gap, but to no avail. Dipping fortunes When Pullela Gopichand took over as the chief coach of the Indian team in 2006, he promised to make it a formidable force. It was a time when no Indian was in the top 10 and only a handful figured in top 100. Having set himself a lofty target, Gopichand achieved his first success at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. The major achievement by an Indian was when Saina bagged the first-ever badminton medal at the London Olympics in 2012. With Sindhu joining the bandwagon, Indian badminton was well and truly on the upward path, till it hit a roadblock. One reason contributing to the fall could be that Indian badminton was flourishing under a golden generation. And as happens with most over-achieving generations, their replacements struggle once the originals wither away. Unlike the Chinese or Malaysian feeder systems, in India, there was no proper plan to put a system in place that would produce players regularly. A talent-search team to identify potential players was never in place. Though Saina and Sindhu inspired lakhs of youngsters to take up badminton, there are very few trained coaches to nurture them. Crucially, as the numbers grew, even incumbent coaches present were not groomed to address the rising demand. Identifying the core If a core group of emerging players had been identified, and groomed, dividing it into two groups, elite and developing, to facilitate competition, things would never have been this poor. Players like Malvika, Aakarshi, Tanvi and others could have been brought under one roof and trained better. But in typical Indian sporting short sightedness, there was never any move in this direction. This lacuna widened the gap between the elite and emerging players. While the internationals kept playing at the top level, the second-string suffered for want of competition. Even now, there is little effort to bridge the gap. Promising players lack guidance While the national association would disagree, fact remains that there is no one to take care of promising junior and sub-junior players across the country. Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra acknowledged that progress has not been on expected lines. “Undoubtedly our performances suffered a setback due to injuries to key players. However, transition of the next generation also requires time to strengthen and sustain our competitive edge,” Mishra told TOI. “BAI is focused on enhancing coaching, injury management and talent development to ensure longterm excellence. While we are committed to building a strong ecosystem for global success, we must acknowledge that progress takes time,” he added, “At the National Centre of Excellence, under the guidance of Olympic medallist coach Ivan Sozonov and coach Park, we are focused on nurturing the next generation of champions along with other academies in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.” The former junior national coach sounded optimistic about the future. “A notable number of junior players are already ranked in the top 10, the intensity of competition at domestic events reflects the rising calibre of emerging talents. Players are challenging and even surpassing established champions. With a growing talent pool and focus on structured coaching, we are confident of a strong future in Indian badminton,” Mishra said. Coaches should be trained and categorised At its recent annual general meeting (AGM), BAI unveiled a Rs 9.75-crore annual plan to drive the growth of badminton. While there are several interesting provisions, more emphasis should have been given on grooming the coaches.
“There should be three categories of coaches. The first category for identifying nascent talent and grooming them. The second should see them through their formative years and send them to national camps when they reach 12-14 years. At the third stage, well-trained coaches should nurture them and turn them into international talents. Nothing of this is happening,” a source said. BAI allocated Rs 73 lakh to offer monthly retainership to Olympians and former internationals now training players at national camps. But will their experience be enough to get the next Saina and Sindhu? Very few champions transitioned into successful coaches. There is a long-term demand for trained coaches. Talent identification and grooming deserve top priority. More trained coaches should be picked and programmes charted. Overhaul is the need of the hour There is nothing BAI can do with the results, but if they want to improve Indian badminton’s standing, a proper system is the need of the hour, with a clear three to five-year plan up and ready. The association and coach should decide the tournament schedule of top shuttlers, particularly during the Olympic and Asian Games years. Several veteran players and administrators are of the opinion that a plan like one implemented by Pullela Gopichand should be applied all over the country. If so many champions can come from one academy, why can’t a few more come from other parts of the country? There is no dearth of talent, but a proper system should be put in place at the earliest, otherwise this shuttle service will chug along the road to mediocrity.
