Indian Badminton Thread ...

[badmuse]

PV Sindhu loses in 2 games to He Bing Jiao. She had her chances in game 1 but made errors at crucial moments. Indian WS tradition of winning a medal since 2012 ends.

[jayakris]

By the way, for any of you new here, and lurking...

the discussions during the badminton matches are all there in the general Olympics '24 thread, as people are following different events and posting updates there.

Mod, Jay.

[rajitghosh]

I think what happened with Lakshya against Axelsen was what happened with Prakash against Morten Frost many years ago. After Prakash moved to Denmark and started playing local tournaments Frost figured out his game and beat him every time. Lakshya has trained a lot with Axelsen including stints in Dubai and Denmark. The Denmark stint was through Prakash's contacts and Lakshya like Prakash has played for clubs in Denmark. So Axelsen knows Lakshya's game inside out. The camaraderie between the two was visible at the end of the match and Axelsen feels Lakshya is a favourite for 2028.

[Sin Hombre]

Axelsen is the greatest of this generation and if he wins gold again, one of the two best of the past 25 years.

It is a discredit to him and his coaches to say they needed to figure Lakshya out.

If anything, Lakshya has improved after those stints.

[arjun2761]

Fully agree. Practicing with the world’s best is generally more beneficial to the person that is practicing with the best.

[badmuse]

n 2016, Srikanth Kidambi and PV Sindhu were physically at their best. While Sindhu made it to the final and got Silver medal. Srikanth faltered from a strong position in QF against Lin Dan. Srikanth's problem was nerves and lack of self belief at a crucial moment. He missed his best chance of winning a gold medal and an Olympic medal.
In 2017 when he was dominating the BWF circuit he was unable to make the All England Final, he also failed to win a WC medal that year. The problem again was in his head.

Lakshya Sen was in a strong position against both Viktor Axelsen and Lee Zi Jia but mentally he lost it at 20-17 in Game 1 against Viktor and
in Game 2 against Lee. Yes, he came in as the weaker player not expected to cross the group stage and was a dark horse for a medal. But he came in at his physical best, and was well prepared to take on any player. He was let down by mental frailties during crucial moments. There is little a coach can do when the player's problems are mental. Only a specialist sports psychologist can help them.

Satwik/Chirag came in as top 5 players, medal favourites. They lost from a strong position because of mental frailties at crucial moments. Instead of winning in 2, they lost in 3.

Destiny plays a part in a player winning a title or medal. India's most promising players have struggled with mental problems. It's not being addressed by our federations. It's always been a case of so near yet so far.
Development at the grass roots is also important for the future generations to step up. This is where the government and federations need to invest money.

[pancakesdonuts]

It feels like badminton is stuck for over a decade now. No major improvements. We still lag behind nations like Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Denmark when we should have surpassed them. No major improvement in doubles section. There are no juniors coming in doubles. Even the future is not clear in Women Singles after Sindhu. Hopefully, Unnati, Tanvi and Anmol live up to hype. During 2014-17 it felt like we could become a force to reckon with in the future. The participation has gone through the roof still we can't produce any meaningful products. What's wrong? Something must be that we are doing incorrect.

There is a massive shift in badminton happening right now as many top players are on verge of retirement and many doubles splitting up. Hopefully, our juniors find their place to the top.

Anyways, there is a super 100 event starting today in China. Unnati is the top seed in WS. Seeing the draw she might go deep in the tournament.
Good luck to her!

[Sin Hombre]

The likes of Malaysia and Thailand are not better than us. Neither is Denmark with just Axelsen. Taiwan will fall down to our level once TTY retires. It is very apparent when you look at the team competitions.

2 chokes was the difference between winning 2 medals and winning none, which is the whole crux behind this statement.

That said, we have not improved since 2016 which was our peak and Gopi and co deserve a lot of blame for that. We should have looked to close the gap with Japan and Korea by now.

[pancakesdonuts]

I don't fully agree with you. Malaysia and Thailand are indeed better than us. Even if we don't count medals, our average performance was worse than these countries. Even in juniors, Malaysia and Thailand are better. Thailand already have next generation of MS, WS, MD and XD ready. While, we can only say the same for MS and WS. Our doubles situation is just worse. I agree with Denmark and maybe Taiwan. I am not sure what Gopi is even doing. All the best MS and WS juniors don't even train there. They don't have any world class players left except Satchi. They get lot of funding from SAI if am not wrong.

[badmuse]

It's about missed opportunities for Indian badminton. They should have had 2 Gold but came back with nothing. Satwik/Chirag and Lakshya are in their best physical form now and cannot expect to reach this level 4 or 8 years later. Like Srikanth was in his best physical shape in 2016 Olympics and could never reach that level again.

The harsh reality is medals equal more funding and no medals equals less funding. The entire badminton ecosystem is affected by the performance at the highest level..Gopichand understood this early and focused solely on Saina and then Sindhu, Srikanth. While Saina and Sindhu got Olympic medals Srikanth faltered. But the 2 Olympic Medals by Saina and Sindhu was enough to make badminton a priority sport in 2018.

Contrast this with Tennis. Indian tennis for a long time was way ahead of Indian Badminton with the team making the Davis cup finals. 1996 Tennis got a Bronze Olympic medal but since then no Olympic medal. The absence of a second Olympic medal in tennis meant no government funding. Since 2006 we have seen a steady decline in Indian tennis. Tennis is now struggling and badminton is thriving because of government funding.

India's most successful sport at the Olympics was Hockey and the secret was development at the grassroots. Indian Hockey lost the edge when they changed the surface from grass to artificial turf. Indian badminton needs funding at the grassroots level. Only BAI and state governments can make this happen. By giving opportunities to a greater number of kids we increase the chances of several good players instead of a few.

[badmuse]

Asia Badminton U 15 and U -17 India get 2 medals
MS U-17 Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila Bronze Medal
WS U-15 Tanvi Patri Gold Medal

Tankara should have made the final against the Indonesian, but was complacent in game 2 and lost his way in game 3. He needs to maintain his focus.

Tanvi Patri wins the Badminton Asia U15 Gold medal! She beat the Vietnamese player in 2 games. In Game 1 it was a tight start till 11-10, then a series of unforced errors had Tanvi in trouble, 17-12. Her inner resolve and mental strength lead a great fight back to take the game 22-20. She just cruised in Game 2 winning 21-11. She has a great attitude and knows how to change her strategy according to playing style. I can't wait for her to turn 17!

[Atithee]

[srini]

In the ongoing China open 1st round Malavika Bansod has defeated WR#7 G.M. Tunjung from Indonesia 26-24 21-19. Malavika seems to be taking some leap as Tunjung took one set off from An Se Young in the semis before losing to her and she was also the bronze medalist at Paris. Hope she can continue to impress in S-1000 level event.

[rajitghosh]

Malvika has followed it up by beating Kirsty Gilmour. Gilmour is a contemporary of Saina. She may be past her prime but is still a tricky opponent.

[HockeywithBilli]

Indian badminton prodigy Anmol Kharb rises 79 places in latest world rankings

https://www.sportskeeda.com/badminton/n ... y=skmainfb