Amid talks over a first-ever overseas series sweep by the cricket team and debates on whether this Sri Lankan side deserves Test status, the Indian sports fan has by and large missed the news that the nation’s badminton team is up to something unprecedented. At the World Championship starting in Glasgow on August 21, Indians are medal contenders in the men’s and women’s singles. Other than China, India is the only nation to have secured the maximum of four entries in the individual sections in either category, which in itself is a statement of progress made by this unheralded lot.
The achievements of the badminton players go unnoticed unless they win Olympic medals. But quietly, they have strung together a run of success which has no parallel in India’s sporting history, after the hockey team’s golden conquests more than 60 years ago. Starting with the women’s doubles bronze in 2011, they have won a medal at every World Championship, in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
The event is not held in Olympic years and in 2012 and 2016 at the big one, the ladies were again on the podium. Indians have won medals in these events in other disciplines, but not with such consistency. Men were slower off the blocks, but have played their part in ending the Chinese monopoly, marking a milestone in the history of the sport.
Unfortunately, most Indian sports fans are not aware of these. The names of Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy appear briefly on days they reach finals, but the elaborate and painstaking process of grooming them and the significance of their achievements get buried under dissections of the Indian cricket team’s victory or defeat. Fortunately, the badminton bunch has been indifferent to this apathy and focussing on beating the best. One reason they are among the top is that they have set high standards for themselves. It’s time to recognise and encourage this enterprise challenging the world order.