Indian Badminton Thread ...

[Saffron Lenin]

^^^ I think plenty of people do. It is fine if you don't -- nobody really cares about whether you care or not.

Only gora validation seekers do care.......(I may be wrong, but that is what my opinion is)

[arjun2761]

That’s the view of a frog in a well. In the US, most of the best athletes in the popular sports are actually quite diverse…

[SaniaFan]

Badminton is second most popular sport in the world after soccer. It is even more popular in Asia than other places.
Interestingly even in UK though it is not amongst the top 10 most followed sport but it is amongst top 10 most played games and rank higher than cricket in that respect.

[rajitghosh]

The point I had wanted to highlight is that an Asian Championship win in badminton is almost as good as a World Championship win. Just putting SatChi's win in perspective. Having said that there is no doubt Europe.is very strong in badminton especially Denmark, Spain, England, Germany and Netherlands.

[arjun2761]

Agree with Rajit’s point that being best in Asia is very close to being best in the world in badminton.

Some of the other points about being the second most popular sport is almost nonsensical in terms of competitive intensity. Even if it’s popular with a billion Indians, 990 million of them have no access to professional sporting infrastructure and of the remaining those that do many have almost no athletic ability. There is a reason that billion plus Indians win less medals than 4mm New Zealanders.

For all its alleged popularity, the total prize money in badminton was 9 MM per tour (men and women) last year which is less than what thousands of individual single athletes get paid in the globally popular professional sports.

[SaniaFan]

The fact that it is popular does not mean is commercially most successful also.
Which brings the question what is the definition of popularity? How many people are touched by it in different forms. Not just how many stars are filling their coffers. How many play the sports? How many are watching it? Wrestling and kabaddi are a popular sport in India although many Indian tennis player would be making more money. Does it make tennis more popular than Wrestling and kabaddi?

[prasen9]

Wrestling and kabaddi are a popular sport in India although many Indian tennis player would be making more money. Does it make tennis more popular than Wrestling and kabaddi?

No.

[rajitghosh]

China, India and Indonesia are 3 out of the top 5 populated countries jn the world. The fact that it is a popular sport in these 3 helps it to beat most other sports by a long margin. Money in my opinion is a wrong yardstick. In my visits to Indonesia I have seen Prakash Padukone is a household name. That counts far more.

[srini]

I completely agree with Rajit, money is a wrong yard stick to measure popularity. I am sure the prize money differences in Tennis and Badminton tours only reflects the current economic realities where the sport gets its most viewership, it doesn't reflect the popularity!

As i mentioned before, the share of emerging nations GDPs towards world GDP in next 10 to 20 years will tilt the economies of scale for sports in Asia's favor which can reduce the prize money differences seen now.

Just like its being said that "Badminton is mostly an Asian sport", one can say Tennis is mostly a European sport, ater all how many Africans,Asians or for that matter South Americans play that sport and how many top tennis players can we name from those continents?

I also find the notion that professional infrastructure for sports is not available in India is pretty outdated. In all A-tier cities (about 20) decent infra is available with in short distances from home and at surprisingly low costs. The reason Indians don't earn as many medals as others is due to the priority we attach to sports...which is a different topic altogether

[Saffron Lenin]

India drawn alongside Malaysia, Hong Kong in Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023

India drawn alongside Malaysia, Hong Kong in Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023.

The official draw for Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023 was announced on June 27th (Tuesday) by Badminton Asia. India has been placed in Group C alongside giants Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh. The 23rd edition of junior continental championships will take place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from July 7-16, 2023.

Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023 Groups
Group A – China, Indonesia, Vietnam
Group B – Japan, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Philippines
Group C – Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Hong Kong
Group D – Thailand, UAE, Korea



Indian squad
Boys’ Singles – Lakshya Sharma, Samarveer, Ayush Shetty, and Dhruv Negi

Girls’ Singles – Tara Shah, Rakshita Sree, Anmol Kharb, and Sriyanshi Valishetty

Boys’ Doubles – Nicholas Nathan Raj/Tushar Suveer and Divyam Arora/Mayank Rana

Girls’ Doubles – Radhika Sharma/Tanvi Sharma and Karnika Sree/Taneesha Singh

Mixed Doubles – Samarveer/Radhika Sharma and Arulmurugan/Srinidhi

https://khelnow.com/badminton/2023-06-b ... nced-india

[srini]

BAI has inaugurated the new national Center Of Excellence it built in Guwahati, the only 2nd such COE built by any federation after hockey in India.
Another news BAI suddenly announced was that Mulyo Handoyo who helped Srikanth reach his peak in 2017 is coming back as singles head coach, Ivan Sozonov as Doubles coach and Park Tae-Sang (who worked with Sindhu earlier) as in-charge of the coach panel.

Now this is the zillionth time we have been hearing Mulyo will be returning as head coach...so far every time he never showed up in India and turned up as a coach in some other country. So let' keep fingers crossed until we actually see him in person at this COE.

It would be interesting to see who would be trained at this new center, because so far Pullela Gopi's academy was primarily used as national training center. Would any of the key players shift their base from Hyderabad to Guwahati during the run up to Olympics or will the COE be used to train only the upcoming players? I haven't heard much on that from BAI so far.

[jayakris]

Himanta Biswa Sarma (the Assam CM) is still the official BAI president or something, right?

[srini]

yes he is the CM and BAI chief. An MoU was signed between Assam govt and BAI similar to what Odisha did for Hockey development.

[Saffron Lenin]

Hopes soar for India's maiden badminton gold in Asiad's 72-year history[/b

The nation, which has witnessed a remarkable surge in badminton prowess on the global stage in recent times, eagerly awaits the impeccable performances of its skilled shuttlers.

In recent years, Indian badminton has seen an extraordinary surge, driven by the exceptional skills and dedication of its players. However, the coveted gold medal has remained elusive in the sport at the Asian Games, despite India's overall impressive tally of 155 gold medals in the event's 72-year history.

https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDis ... ID=1121339

[prasen9]

Impressive tally?