18 February,2024 07:30 AM IST | Mumbai | Shirish Nadkarni
The victorious Indian women’s badminton team in Malaysia yesterday. Pic/BAI
Does the Indian women's badminton team which bagged the gold medal at the just-concluded Badminton Asia Team Championships in Selangor, Malaysia, merit the title of the pre-eminent squad of shuttlers on this badminton-crazy continent?
Even when this was the first-ever gold medal earned by the Indian women at international level, following on upon the bronze won at the 2014 Uber Cup series in New Delhi? Even though there was not a single Indian player among the Top 40 singles exponents in the world, barring PV Sindhu, who is ranked No. 11?
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With 2024 being an Olympic year, all the top Asian countries chose to shield their ace players, and sent second-string squads to battle it out in Selangor.
Thus, China held back Chen Yu Fei, He Bingjiao, and the crack World No.1 doubles combination of Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, while there were no worthwhile shuttlers from Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei, who all could have proved too strong for the Indians.
Even Thailand, who lost the final 2-3 to India, kept back their 2013 world champion Ratchanok Intanon and Pornpawee Chochuwong, although their two doubles teams were out in strength.
What ought to be India's response to the foregoing? The Indians should cock a snook at all these badminton powerhouses, and stress the fact that the history books will show India to have ended Badminton Asia 2024 as the top team in Asia, beating the likes of China, Japan and Thailand by an identical 3-2 scoreline, the last two on successive days.
It was the youngsters who put their hands up to be counted. The likes of teenager Anmol Kharb, Ashmita Chaliha, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand weighed in with sterling contributions even when their seniors occasionally faltered.
Ashmita came up trumps against Japan's 2017 world champion and 2019 world runner-up, Nozomi Okuhara, when Sindhu was cut down to size by Aya Ohori in the opening match.
What can one say about the 17 year old reigning national singles champion, who is being hailed as the next Saina Nehwal for her sheer grit, determination and unflappable temperament?
Anmol, not a product of either of the main national academies in Hyderabad and Bangalore, is coached by her father in Haryana, coincidentally the birth state of Saina.
In spite of the intense pressure of playing the last match in each of India's three crucial ties, Anmol decimated much higher ranked players like China's Wu Luo Yu (at 22-20, 14-21, 21-18), Japan's Natsuki Nidaira (at 21-14, 21-18) and Thailand's Pornpicha Choeikeewong (by a 21-14, 21-9 scoreline). This girl is one for the future, as is the much-improved doubles combination of Jolly and Gopichand.
PS: There was a forlorn query from a badminton lover at the end of Sunday's play: Is there a possibility that our badminton girls would make bigger headlines tomorrow as Asian badminton champions than the Indian Test cricket team which beat England to go 2-1 up in the series, and had a 550 million worldwide viewership, compared to a few hundred badminton lovers scrounging around on YouTube for a link to watch a live telecast because none of the big channels was interested in covering the event in Selangor?
