Chirag Shetty, a fairly well-read and soft-spoken doubles badminton player and mighty high-achieving too, recently lamented how his home state Maharashtra had stayed indifferent to India’s Thomas Cup title, badminton’s direct equivalent of a World Cup. A large number of cricket fanatics, drunk on the revelry following the T20 World title, thought he was clamoring after and resentful of the Rs 11 crore dispersed by the local government to 4 cricketers from the state.
Son of a well-off Mumbai businessman with roots in Mangalore, Chirag wasn’t really talking money here, though that would be a nice acknowledgment of India’s first World No 1 doubles pairing in a highly competitive sport.
A fortnight away from aiming for the gold medal at the Olympics in a mindblastingly difficult field, Chirag received a reality check of just how vastly different the popularity of cricket and badminton are in his country.
Since he blasphemed by uttering the c-word of cricket, many on social media took it upon themselves to explain to him that the bat & ball sport brought in revenues and money in billions, while badminton couldn’t pull much. He perhaps was looking for a tiny bit of respect, some generous adoration.
You couldn’t blame Chirag for being befuddled by his country’s fanbase that struggles to see beyond cricket. The opponents that he busts his lungs to defeat from China, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia, even Denmark, receive generous love and appreciation from large populations that dote on and even worship badminton. They all have other team sports that are healthy substitutes for religion – football or volleyball or basketball or handball. But nobody outside of India asks its badminton players how much revenue they generate when reminded that he & his team won the biggest team championship in his sport and returned to a cold reception from corporates and utter ignorance from local administration.
Gold medals are won for the self first, the country too, and maybe Chirag and partner Satwiksairaj Rankireddy need to seal the gold in Paris. But perhaps China, Indonesia, and Malaysia give their shuttlers respect that Indians just can’t summon.
Chinese badminton chief Zhang Jun told Global Times confidently recently that the country was aiming for 5 gold medals from Paris – a clean sweep including a men’s doubles gold. But the true popularity of Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, the combine born in early 2000s, is in how they are household names in the country and wildly adored on Weibo, their prospects talked up and their playing mistakes receiving indulgent advice from millions.
China spends plenty on every gold medal it covets, as has been India since the 2010 Commonwealth Games. But it’s in the large scale pride that sports followers take in Liang-Wang’s results, the endless ribbings of Weikeng’s weight loss efforts, the fixation with the duo’s variety in serves by a chattery public, that the shuttlers get fortified with confidence. Their inconsistency gets lamented the same way as Indians mope over their cricket. But one thing Liang-Wang know – is the Chinese care deeply.
Wang would get emotional and tell Global Times, “We have won championships, we’ve also been runners-up, and of course, there have been times when we didn’t perform well. Experiencing failure helps us grow and teaches us how to handle future matches.” Weibozens swooned collectively the next day, at this earnest declaration.
Down south in Malaysia, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have taken over the mantle of giving the country its first gold since 1956. Wooi Yik has been staying like a hermit at the academy hostel, his silent dedication followed by a nation of shuttle lovers. Aaron-Soh had beaten the Minions and Daddies on the way to bronze at Tokyo but the country still searching for a gold, is pretty chuffed at how the creative combine nails big occasions.
The 8 pm night training sessions – after morning and evening – are devoted to Aaron-Soh getting leaner, and their weight loss is often a topic of chatter on badminton Twitter, as their diet to reduce body fat and increase muscle is widely discussed in drawing rooms keeping an eye on the preparation updates of the 2022 World Champs.
Koreans Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk, despite being world champions from 2023, don’t enjoy the crazed support that other three countries do. But camped at their elite training base in north Chungcheong province, the Koreans are doing their darndest to prepare Seo for two events – men’s and mixed golds.
At a media day event, Kang voiced his deepest concerns over a tepid season as reported by Archysport.com: “I was so greedy to do well that I put a lot of effort into my play. I think my desire to do better before the Olympics pushed me to do better. But rather than being greedy to do better, we will focus on our strengths, aggressive play, and find areas where we can excel.”
Seo’s game was dissected as he told a media bustle about course correction. “I felt that I was not able to play well because I was physically exhausted and there were parts of me that were sore. Because I lacked stamina, the technical aspects also did not work well. I have to play two matches (including mixed doubles), so I’m working on building up my body to be able to physically endure it. I felt like I was lacking in areas where I had to give up points in the front or middle of the court. I’m making up for it.”
He would then chuckle and exaggerate to say, “If I have fun and do my best in each game, I can easily win three gold medals (in badminton).”
Indonesians love badminton because the sport regularly delivers a gold medal, even when everything else is falling apart. They were the earliest to book a training base at Chambley-Bussières, France, for a pre-Olympics camp. And top coaching brains have collectively gathered behind Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, so they can regain lost glory from Tokyo, where the much adored Minions couldn’t medal, sending a nation into mourning.
Data science and sports medicine have been adopted wholesale in the past year and intense simulations carried out on the runup so that Alfian-Ardianto can mount a surprise. Their All England win revived Indonesian hopes, and though their singles stars Anthony Ginting and Jonatan Christie are followed much more, the country that beat the Chinese in MD at Beijing Games is emotionally rooting for doubles triumphs.
Sydney 2000 men’s doubles gold medallist Candra Wijaya made an impassioned appeal to Alfian-Ardianto to keep their nerve. “Calmness and concentration are the most important, don’t overthink. When we see such a big event, don’t feel like it’s difficult,” he was quoted by BWF as saying. Chinese legend and London champion Cai Yun too visited the Chinese base to calm jitters of Liang-Wang.
Facilities and cash prizes and fancy stadia and equipment can all be cloned and made available with money. But what the Indians might lack, and the Chinese, Indonesians and Malaysians have in abundance is the respect and love for their shuttlers that makes entire countries root and pray for their success.
It was never about the Rs 11 crore, or comparison with another team sport of 11 players. Chirag Shetty was looking for that fuzzy feeling of his country hanging its hopes on a sport he deeply adores, and hopes others love too, as they chase a lonely gold.
