Shuttling to success other indian sports must follow the model that has made india a badminton powerhouse

Shuttling to success other indian sports must follow the model that has made india a badminton powerhouse

In what can only be described as a truly historic feat for Indian badminton, Team India shuttlers put up a spectacular performance to not only reach the final of the Thomas Cup but also defeat Indonesia – the most decorated team in men’s badminton. Indonesia, which has won this tournament 14 times, had history and reputation on its side. But that failed to overwhelm Lakshya Sen, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Kidambi Srikanth who took India over the finishing line with an incredible 3-0 score.

The victory underscores the depth of Indian badminton today. While the sport has had outstanding individual performers for some time now, putting together a world-class team reflects the true health of the game in the country. In fact, all the players who played the final rank among the top 15 in the world. Things truly started changing for Indian badminton after Saina Nehwal won the Commonwealth Games gold in 2010. Subsequently, her bronze at the 2012 London Olympics took the popularity of the sport to a whole new level. With PV Sindhu’s successes at the international stage following shortly, Indian badminton had arrived.

That said, over the years two hubs have emerged for Indian badminton – the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru. While these two are responsible for producing and nurturing almost all of India’s top shuttlers, for continued success quality training infrastructure needs to be broad-based throughout the country. Second, badminton’s success is underpinned by efforts of former stalwarts of the game like Gopichand – who is the current national coach – Padukone and Vimal Kumar. They have been handpicking, guiding and transforming players into champions. A similar approach in other sports where former icons of the game are given a free hand and supported to nurture talent is worth trying out. Given India’s size and youth bulge, there’s no reason why we can’t emerge as a sporting powerhouse.