NEW DELHI: Goliath upsets. France’s trailblazing service. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s dream medal. An se-young. And something as rare as a golden point.
The just-concluded BWF World Championships was a gripping affair from start to finish. There were many different narratives that made the event a compelling one.
Upsets are common at any level of sport and the jaw-dropping reactions it brings about never gets old. The Indian shuttlers had mixed luck in regards to that during the course of the tournament. And it came early as Day 1 when first-timer Ayush Shetty sent Indian fans into a frenzy by knocking out World No 1 & defending champion Shi Yu Qi of China in Round 1. Ayush’s senior, Lakshya Sen, was at the receiving end. The shock meter went bust when he was stunned by an unheralded player in the form of Garett Tan. Consider this, Tan had barely any experience at the elite level before this. Similarly, there were many more upsets in the following days.
French shuttlers, meanwhile, had been making waves with some notable wins over the years. On Sunday, France walked away with two gold medals. Thom Giquel and Delphine Delrue etched their names in history books by becoming the first shuttlers from the country to win the yellow metal. Alex Lanier put the icing on the cake by matching their feat just an hour later.
Talk about gold, South Korean star has won many in her career, but she just had one in this championship. While there was much talk about drift and how that's challenging for the players, An, without making a fuss, did what she does best by coasting to the title. In the build-up to the tournament, there were some concerns if she would be competition-ready since she had some injury issues recently. As the focus turned to Indians and other surprising results through the course of the tournament, she quietly made her way into the business end before beating her closest rivals — Wang Zhi Yi and Akane Yamaguchi — in the semis and final, respectively for her second world title. What's more impressive is that she won all her matches in straight games. The Korean genius never ceases to amaze.
While An has made winning medals a customary act, that was not the case for Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who had endured injury setbacks in recent times. Moreover, they lacked quality match-practice at the top level. However, the women's doubles combo showed skills, guts and hunger to corner glory. Coming into the competition, Indian shuttlers had a happy streak of returning with at least a single medal in every edition since 2011. When PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, shuttlers who were deemed to have a stronger chance of challenging for a podium finish, crashed out, India were in serious danger of returning empty-handed. Even men's doubles specialists, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, could only reach as far as quarters. Satwik was making a return after injury woes and it's never easy to find instant success.
The pressure to perform was not just on the shuttlers this time. The organisers, the Badminton Association of India (BAI), and those involved in conduct of the event were also under heavy pressure after the India Open debacle not so long ago. They had plenty of issues to address and they did just that. Almost all the players, including Mia Blichfeldt and Anders Antonsen — two Danish players who had been critical during the India Open — were pleased with the improvements and gave their seal of approval. It's a massive shot in the arm for BAI as they look to host more international tournaments in the near future. They have already put in an official bid for the 2028 edition of Thomas and Uber Cup.
Last-minute entrants Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh, meanwhile, were involved in an epic mixed doubles tie that lasted 71 minutes. The second game, where the Indians had multiple match point opportunities, was decided by a golden point. It was their opponents who nicked it before going on to win the match.
Meanwhile, heavyweights China could not quite live up to their tall standards with the country winning just one gold medal. Doubles specialists, Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who ended SatChi's run in the quarterfinal stage, went on to clinch the title.
