Boria Majumdar in Paris
It is the round-of-16 match that none of us wanted. And did not want to speak about either. And yet, it is now upon us. Two of India’s best, two of our absolute favourites, clash on the Olympic stage with one advancing to the quarterfinals. HS Prannoy v Lakshya Sen is a tough one to call. On form, it has to be Lakshya. But as an Indian sports lover, you just don’t want to call this one. I’d much rather buy myself a glass of Coke, sit in the media centre and follow the action, rather than bite my nails and see one of them lose.
From a different standpoint, however, it isn’t such a bad thing. Lakshya v Prannoy means we will surely have one Indian in the quarterfinal, and with Lakshya having opened up the draw by beating Jonatan Christie, it could be either Kodai Naraoka or Chou Tien-chen in the last eight. In either case, the Indians will avoid Shi Yuqi or Viktor Axelsen, and that’s what you want to do if you are here in Paris.
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The journeys of Lakshya and Prannoy to the round of 16 have been very different. While Lakshya has been brilliant and played some of the best badminton of his life, Prannoy just stayed in there and somehow managed to pull ahead in the match against the Vietnamese. Both define sport for us in very interesting ways. Lakshya in this Olympics has been a revelation. His magic backhand at 19-18 is now part of badminton folklore, and the way he played against Christie was nothing short of sensational. Defensively, Lakshya was at his absolute best. And if you are an Indian badminton fan, you will seriously start to fancy Lakshya as a possible medal contender.
With Prannoy, things are different. Everything that could go wrong did during the build-up. First, he had Chikungunya, and we all know what this dreaded disease can do. The pain is unbearable, and the weakness takes time to go. Prannoy, however, was back in training within 10 days and pushed himself to the brink. “To see him come back and train and with intensity was a surprise,” said Pullela Gopichand. “Honestly, I did not expect him to do so. But with Prannoy, you should always be ready for a surprise, for I think he surprises himself as well.
“When I called him the next day thinking that our training plan was finally back on track, I was told he was down with 104 [degrees Fahrenheit] viral [fever]. Now, what can you say? It just keeps happening to him, and yet he has never given up. I have seen him in extreme pain. Suffer through it all, and yet he has made it back to court and won medals on the highest stages of all.”
In a battle of these two gladiators, you don’t want either to lose. But in sport, that’s the reality. One will, and make way for the other to move on to the quarterfinals. As Indian supporters, we will applaud both. Celebrate the effort, and know that we will indeed have one of our best in the last eight, just two (or three) steps away from making the podium here in Paris.
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