After being in the wilderness for almost all season, the Indian shuttlers breathed fresh life into their game in the last seven days or so, offering new hope ahead of the marquee continental event—the Asian Games— next year.
After missing out on a medal at the Olympics and struggling in both singles and doubles at top BWF Tour events, India finally managed to win a medal at the BWF World Championships in Paris last week. Once again, it was the versatile duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who showed why they are still India’s best.
P V Sindhu displayed compelling signs of retracing her old steps even while falling short of a historic sixth world championship medal. However, it was enough to show that even at 30 she can bring her big-game mentality to the elite level. Her game against World No 2 Wang Zhi Yi had glimpses of the vintage Sindhu.
However, it is a big concern that she was the only Indian representative in women’s singles. Another spark was the mixed doubles combination of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, making their championship debut, who narrowly missed out on a medal. The fact that the duo came close to challenging a podium finish could act as a springboard for better results.
In the end, it was Satwik and Chirag who shone the brightest during the championships with some mind-bending tricks and flicks. What can be termed poetic is that at the very venue where they crashed out in the Olympics quarterfinals—the Adidas Arena—they avenged their defeat against A Chia and W Y Soh. Yet, they were no match for the Chinese duo of Y Liu and B Chen. Lakshya Sen's form is a worrying factor. This time, India’s top singles player’s game lasted just 54 minutes against World No 1 Shi Yu Qi, who went on to win the title.
Despite the signs of improvement, what would bother India is their lack of bench strength. No young, up-and-coming player is even close to the level Sindhu was at that stage of her career. India will be hosting the world championships next year. For the game to grow, the nation needs results and new heroes. As of now, that seems elusive.