Lakshya Sen’s inability to close out matches he was dominating on successive days is a cause of national despair. He had looked good to return with a medal and his defeat meant that India had to suffer the heartburn of yet another fourth-place finish — the fifth one at Paris 2024 so far. Nothing hurts more than this in the Olympic Games. A sixth or seventh place is far less agonising.
The bigger news is, the string has snapped! Buried under Sen’s losses was the fact that this ended India’s tremendous run of consistency at the top level of badminton. After Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa claimed bronze in women’s doubles at the 2011 World Championships, Indians reached the podium in the year’s biggest badminton competition without a single exception, until 2023. Sen’s defeat snapped that streak.
In badminton, World Championships are conducted annually, except for the year when the Olympic Games are held. After 2011 and before Paris, three editions of the quadrennial games took place and Saina Nehwal (bronze, 2012), PV Sindhu (silver and bronze in 2016 and 2021) made sure that the Indians won at least something. In the World Championships in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Indians accounted for 12 medals, including gold by Sindhu in 2019. Sen himself had bagged bronze in 2021. Other than the gold, Indian claimed four silver and seven bronze medals.
In no other Olympic discipline ever, maybe with the possible exception of wrestling, have Indians shown this kind of consistency at the highest level for so many years. The best part was, what was started by the women was carried forward by the men. After B Sai Praneeth’s bronze in 2019, Sen, Kidambi Srikanth (silver), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (bronze) and HS Prannoy (bronze) kept the flag flying. From two medal prospects, the numbers multiplied. That wonderful run is over.
Also read:
Neeraj Chopra’s greatest achievement is perhaps playing a major role in creating a sporting culture in the country. @fancricket12 delves deeper to look at the great athlete’s achievements and his contribution to Indian sport.@Fancricket12 ✍️#Olympics2024https://t.co/H42Bd1aomo
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) August 6, 2024
This enterprise had begun from scratch. After Prakash Padukone settled for bronze at the 1983 World Championships, Indians disappeared from the higher echelons of this particular sport. Pullela Gopichand won the prestigious All England title in 2001, but he never stood on the victory stand at the Olympics or World Championships. A revival started under the leadership of Gopichand, with help from Padukone, Vimal Kumar and others, including a significant amount of government and corporate assistance in the last few years.
Going to Paris, Satwik and Chirag were the hot favourites to reach the final. World No. 1 until recently and winners of last year’s Asian Games gold and a Super 1000 title, they started on the right note also, before fizzling out in the quarter-finals. That was a bigger setback than Sindhu’s failure to secure a hat-trick of Olympic medals. Even Sen wasn’t initially expected to reach the semi-finals. The defeat of the men’s doubles pair was the real hammer blow to India’s hopes.
Things will possibly change, considering that Sen, Satwik and Chirag are still quite young. They have every chance of putting this behind and coming back stronger. There are other junior players coming up through the ranks as well. However, for the moment, Paris 2024 will remain a huge source of disappointment for Indian badminton and all the good work that happened since 2011. It’s a tough pill to swallow.
For more sports content: https://revsportz.in/