The extraordinary rise of Indian badminton has been observed for a few months. We won the Thomas Cup in great style and swept the CWG with three gold, one silver and two bronze. How did all this happen? How did India break the shackles of mediocrity and become a champion nation?
Enough has been said about Pullella Goichand’s coaching system and her relentless pursuit of perfection. There is no doubt that Gopi has played a major role in preparing India for this level.
But there was another person whose contribution cannot be ignored and that was none other than legend Prakash Padukone who pioneered the academy system in 1994 when together with Vimal Kumar he opened the legendary Prakash Padukone badminton academy (in the 8 courts of Karnataka Badminton Association)
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It was really restoring the sport in a significant way. For the first time we had a hostel, transport to the site, good food in the mess, top level training and physical training and a physio available all the time. And a weight room which is very essential in today’s scenario.
Moreover, with the sponsorship of the PPBA to the BPL, the academy was also free for domestic players who traveled directly to Bangalore to attend the PPBA. These players included Aparna Popat, Manjusha Kanwar, Dipankar Bhattacharyya and even Gopichand, who trained under the watchful eyes of Prakash himself for two years. As PPBA became more and more popular and more time was needed to train, time restrictions at Karnataka badminton association stadium did not help and PPBA had to move to new facilities .
They moved to a plush 16-seater pitch in the new center called the Padukone-Dravid Sports Center. It is a state-of-the-art facility and many top players have graduated from it. The latest sensation to emerge from the PPBA is Lakshya Sen who has been training at the PPBA for ten years. The PPBA has therefore done its part to ensure that Indian badminton is on the rise.
Of course, it’s Gopichand and his teaching method that makes such a difference.
Gopi returned to Hyderabad to a fantastic reception after winning the 2001 All England title. A delighted CM Chandrababu Naidu asked how to ensure Andhra Pradesh produce more players like him. Gopi told him that if he can have a world-class coaching academy, chances are we will have top players. “All facilities must be under one roof. In my career, there were no academies with such facilities and I struggled to train properly. The weights were at one end, the courts at one end, the training ground for track work at another location. So a lot of time was wasted traveling. So give me a place where everything was under one roof,” Gopi said then.
This is exactly what Naidu did by signing a decree and releasing 4 acres of land and land in Gachibowli in 2001. Gopi struggled to establish the academy but in 2008 it was complete. In 2006 Gopi had started coaching at Gachibowli Stadium and in 2008 he had an exceptional player in Saina Nehwal who was a glutton for hard work. Saina started winning international tournaments and in 2008 she was ranked number 2 in the world.
At that time, the then President of BAI was desperate to showcase Indian badminton at CWG 2010 which was held in Delhi. Against all objections, he appointed Gopi as head national coach. BK Verma told me, “I called Gopi in Delhi and asked him to draw up a plan for the future of Indian badminton. He was sincere and wanted to establish an increasing level of Indian badminton.
The 2010 CWG was a resounding success. Thereafter, in 2 to 3 years, he had an array of world drummers coming out of his academy. Players like PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap, Kidambi Shrikanth, Guru Sai Dutt, Sai Praneeth, Saisatwik Rankareddy, HS Prannoy and many more.
So, what had been the reasons for this resounding success of Gopi and his demons?
He realized while playing that Indian players had to be as fit as the Chinese, Indonesians, Malays and Koreans. It was the key. He used to say that players from the aforementioned countries didn’t jump 8 feet high or have the strength of a Tarzan. He told the players that if he can do it, why can’t they?
“I told them you have to have faith in yourself, have faith in yourself and the results will come.”
And slowly but surely India started to be recognized as a rising power in the sport and the rest of the world started to respect our players. We started winning BWF events all over the world. But in the team championship we still struggled because we didn’t have a balanced team. This happened when Lakshya Sen came of age. While the boy from Almora has established himself in 2021, reaching the final of some major tournaments, he really captured the country’s imagination when he won the Indian Open in February and reached the final of England and the German Open and won a bronze medal. for his world championship debut.
“With Srikanth and Prannoy already established and Sen playing in top form, the core of a balanced team was forming. And the Thomas Cup was close,” said Vimal Kumar, India’s former head coach.
“I said in a meeting of the BAI selection committee that we had a very good chance of winning the Cup, but we have to plan seriously from now on,” recalls Vimal. But, no one understood the seriousness of what Vimal implied. But by mid-April it was clear that our main doubles pair of Saisatwik Rankareddy and Chirag Shetty were also ready.
So now we have four very strong Thomas Cup events. Three singles and best doubles. Gopichand also told the press that “we have perhaps the most balanced team in the scrum. The boys just need to gel well and play together as a team.
With Vimal now appointed Director and Team Leader, it was obvious that he will bring a system and process to follow. Over the few days of team training, it appeared camaraderie had emerged and all the boys were determined to do their best and more. And that if we keep our heads down and avoid injury, we have the ability to lift the cup.
With that in mind, the team landed in Bangkok and made history by beating Malaysia, Denmark and Indonesia in a row to stun the world.
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July’s CWG was very important and it was clear that Sindhu and Rankareddy/Shetty had a good chance of winning gold. In Sindhu’s case, it was a foregone conclusion as Padukone correctly put it, “Sindhu is a certainty for singles gold.”
It turns out that they all played their hearts out and won gold in the men’s singles and doubles. Sen had one of the finest matches of his young career as he defeated Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong in the pinnacle clash.
So two of the best and most prestigious tournaments and we’ve dominated both, the Thomas Cup and the CWG. In a way, India’s rise was unprecedented in the history of the game. But what about the future? How long will our supremacy last? This is the debatable question.
Let’s face it, Srikanth and Prannoy are now both in their thirties, and we need to identify players who can step into their shoes. We have Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George and a few others who can step into Srikanth’s shoes, but a lot will have to be done to ensure they are worthy successors.
We are better in men’s doubles because Saisatwik Rankareddy and Chirag Shetty are young and can continue for at least 4-5 years. And at Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun, we have a pair arriving fast. There is surprisingly more depth in doubles than in singles. We have the Thomas Cup coming back in 2024, so we only have two years to train and find good replacements, otherwise we will have a crop.
At the next CWG in 2026, Sindhu will be 29 and may struggle to play as well as she did in 2022. Unnati Hooda is the most likely player to come in her place. Sindhu will always be a force, but if she can maintain her fitness, she could still dominate the next CWG.
Gayatri Gopichand and Tressa Jolly gave a good impression of themselves as they fought valiantly for a bronze medal in Birmingham. They have many years left of top badminton. Mixed doubles is an area where we are traditionally and historically weak. And we need to fix that now by giving a lot of exposure to our mixed doubles pairs.
So, if we think well and plan short and long term goals, we could keep progressing and progressing in the world of badminton. Otherwise, this rise could turn out to be a mirage.
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