HS Prannoy had pulled off a heist in the BWF World Championships in 2023. Trailing against runaway favourite Viktor Axelsen at his den in Copenhagen, the half-fit Indian produced a stunner to win that quarter-final.
His bronze ensured the country’s record of returning with at least one medal from badminton’s biggest competition since 2011 remained intact. The other contenders had lost. Prannoy delivered against the Dane, who was the top seed and towering above him in every respect. He was jaded, but summoned an outburst of energy to cause the upset of the event.
That record seems to be going away. It hasn’t completely yet, but signs are such. At the ongoing BWF World Championships in Paris, India’s medal prospects look bleak. This is in spite of the fact there are three individuals and a pair in this contingent who know how it feels to stand on the podium in this event.
Lakshya Sen, a former bronze medallist, lost in the first round. PV Sindhu, the winner of one gold and two silver and bronze medals apiece, hasn’t been the same force since claiming the 2021 Olympic bronze. Prannoy himself is also not the player who had won an Asian Games bronze to go with his BWF medal that year.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty promised a lot after bagging bronze in 2022, but they too seem to be losing the zing. As the world No. 9, they are still among the contenders, but their recent record doesn’t ooze confidence. They have lost to a few pairs of late and struggled to go beyond the quarter-finals. There is nothing to expect from the other Indians.
After Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa clinched bronze in women’s doubles in 2011, Indians had unfailingly been on the podium. That’s 10 times in a row. Not just the BWF World Championships. It’s not held in Olympic years. The Indian achievement is special because they also won medals in the three intervening Olympic Games. The Olympic run snapped last year. Paris it is again where the other one may also end.
It’s a sad turn of events. India’s position in world badminton was getting stronger. Initially, it was Saina Nehwal and Sindhu. Then the male contingent stood up and gave four medal winners — Sai Praneeth, Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and Prannoy. This was followed by the rise of a doubles pair, which India never had. The medal options were actually increasing.
That supply has suddenly stopped. There are former medal winners, no new medal prospects. That is the worrying sign, not one or two barren years. From a team teeming with talent and unearthing new faces to a pool of nobody with any real hope is a steep fall. Usually, when someone sets the ball rolling and others follow, things head for the better. In the case of Indian badminton, it has been the opposite so far.
There is still a trickle of hope. You don’t rule out players who have been there and done that. They know what is required, when and in what quantity. All of them have made comebacks in life and on the court and that’s why they are where they are. They need not go farther than Prannoy to know that anything is possible. That said, it still seems it will take a herculean effort to secure a podium this time.
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