India’s badminton team had consistently won medals in the previous three Olympics, but unfortunately, their luck did not last long after the Paris 2024 Games.
Nevertheless, there were several strong contenders in the likes of PV Sindhu and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty yet they did not manage to get a single medal as they had been doing for over a decade. Lakshya Sen finished in fourth place which was somehow positive among all this disappointment.
Hope was there for the team and it is clear from Sindhu’s pursuit of her third Olympic medal, HS Prannoy’s going away at last time in a lifetime event, and the encouraging show by Ashwini Ponnappa plus Tanisha Crasto on women double. The duo of Satwik-Chirag as well as Lakshya were also among the highly touted athletes who could have landed on the podium.
In order to prepare for Paris cycle, badminton received significant boost from various national camps and foreign exposure trips funded under Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). The Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell allocated a significant portion of the nearly Rs 470 crore budget to badminton, second only to one other discipline among the 16 supported.
Parami News reported that nonetheless the results achieved in Paris did not match up with amount invested; hence showing how unpredictable Olympics can be as well as need for mental strength which counts more when trying high stakes competitions.
This challenge was exemplified by Lakshya’ semi-final match against Viktor Axelsen and his bronze play-off against Lee Zii Jia of Chinese Taipei.
Sindhu who got tremendous financial support managed only to drop out at pre-quarter finals thus failing to do what no other Indian athlete has done before, win three Olympic medals.
The overall outcome underscores why winning an Olympic gold medal is so difficult and calls for a more comprehensive approach beyond just money.
“I am a little disappointed as he could not finish it. I am disappointed that we could not even win one medal in badminton. The government, SAI, and TOPS have done their bit. It is high time some of the players also need to take some responsibility,” Lakshya’s coach and former All England champion Prakash Padukone
They were considered as a favorite for the gold medal by most people, but still Satwik along with Chirag who was the ex-World number 1 lost another match increasing India’s disappointment at the Olympics.
The Indian government made significant financial contributions including Rs 26.60 lakh and Rs 9.33 lakh which were set aside for Sindhu’s training in Germany and France respectively.
Despite having her support team of 12 when training in Saarbrucken, Sindhu, a former silver and bronze medallist, couldn’t beat China’s He Bingjiao.
In quarterfinals Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia defeated Satwik and Chirag who had already won two titles out of four BWF World Tour finals this year besides multiple medals in other major competitions.
For the Paris cycle alone, the Government spent a total of Rs 5.62 crores on this famous Indian pair but however this loss prompted their Danish coach Mathias Boe to resign from his position.
However, he succumbed to Chikungunya before games after being paid Rs 1.8 crore for training yet only made it to pre-quarters where he was eliminated.
Each getting support amounting to Rs 1.5 crore Ashwini as well as Tanisha left without winning any game from group stages.
Lakshya’s fourth place finish, notwithstanding the hurdles, was a remarkable attainment for an Indian male singles player. Be it Chou Tien Chen or Jonatan Christie he won against, Axelsen and Zii Jia from advantageous positions showed some chinks in his armor.
There is much doubt that Sindhu will be able to maintain her fitness till the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Nevertheless, Satwik-Chirag and Lakshya may take advantage of their Paris stint in future.
These are the rising stars such as Priyanshu Rajawat and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand waiting to hit the limelight with India’s badminton promising another four years away from now onwards towards Olympics.
