All England: Indian badminton needs a deep run to shake off recent sense of despair

But as yet another edition kicks off at Birmingham, it will remain a gaping hole in career summaries and a large unticked box for some of the biggest names in Indian badminton. It’s nearing a quarter of a century since Gopichand won the last one in 2001, when almost a fourth of present-day India wasn’t even born. So one can hardly blame the present-day stars for not setting too much store on it. The All England itself ceased being the most prestigious event in badminton once the sport debuted at the Olympics in 1992, before the World Championships became an annual affair.

But Indian indifference largely stemmed from the lack of results there.

The absolute single-mindedness pursuing this title, like the two legends once did, has been missing.

For Padukone, it was the pinnacle when the All E was as good as the World Championship. For Gopichand, an obsession with redemption, after losing at the Sydney Olympics, and a career apogee.

The Chinese still arrive at Birmingham with an extra spring in the step compared to anywhere else on the calendar. Tokyo Olympics champion Chen Yufei completely cut herself off from badminton, and went to Australia to study for three months post her Paris loss. But come the New Year, she was itching to resume playing. The chosen event for her comeback – the All England, though she did play another tune-up final at Orleans last week.

Viktor Axelsen prioritises the event, as he aims for his third crown. The buzz is that if Axelsen has to be dethroned by the new generation, that coup will be timed at All England – either by Li Shifeng or Kunlavut Vitidsarn.

The hugely shuffled women’s singles prevailing order too will begin to take shape this week, with clarity on who really has it in them to challenge An Se Young.

India is woefully scattered this time around. But rarely has Indian badminton needed a burst of inspiration like a deep run at All England more than now. International results have dried up, and badminton is struggling to provide happy headlines like it once did, with multiple contenders.

Hope from doubles

It’s a challenging time for the bereaved Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who lost his father last fortnight, and Chirag Shetty. Though for a few years now, it has been pretty clear that if anyone can score a strike for India at All England, it will be in doubles, not singles.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand always make All England interesting and have made two semifinals there. Women’s doubles is on the uptick with three Indian pairings making it to the main draw for the first time. But Ashwini Ponappa best encapsulates India’s All England conundrum. She maxed her potential and even won a Worlds bronze in 2011 in London. But she strangely couldn’t make much headway at All England.

Kidambi Srikanth couldn’t make the main draw this year, but the former World Championship silver medallist and Thomas Cup champion might end up as the most baffling non-winner at All E among Indians, given his talent. It has been a long time since he became World No.1, and it is a glum thought that he got into badminton inspired by Gopichand’s All England title. Some might say he surpassed his mentor as India’s finest, with a Worlds medal and the China-Indonesia double. But that’s where the allure of All England kicks in – it remains a notch above any other Tour title in perception.

Lakshya Sen has a final and a semi-final appearance at Birmingham – two very fine forays with reel-worthy moments of defensive magic on court. He was the only men’s singles semi-finalist to leave the Paris Games heartbroken, and there’s no better place than All England to roar back. His path is littered with extremely beatable names – Koki Watanabe, Jonatan Christie, Li Shifeng/HS Prannoy and Shi Yuqi in the top half. That would count as a good draw with Axelsen mired in the bottom half with very tricky Chinese and Japanese, besides compatriot Anders Antonsen.

The simple challenge for India’s current generation of men’s singles, four of whom have World Championship medals (though Sai Praneeth has since retired), is sealing a spot in the pantheon of legends in the absence of an Olympic medal – and nothing less than an All England title would do. One suspects HS Prannoy still sheaths a very effective and clever game, which can be unleashed just for this occasion, even if results have been indifferent overall. But one more stab at the All England – who wouldn’t want that?

Sindhu’s final peak

Which leaves us with India’s greatest shuttler – PV Sindhu. It is a genuine mystery how in her dizzy high-achieving years from 2016-2019, an All England crown eluded her. There are a couple of semifinals, and it’s an open secret that she craves to tick the one box remaining for her, like Ratchanok Intanon.

But there’s a pervading sense of the moment having passed them by. It’s not merely how dominant An Se Young is, for Sindhu in her prime earned her stripes with giant kills. But just the reality of change. It might be an All England with the highest number of unseeded women’s singles players who are former Olympic or world champions – Ratchanok, Nozomi Okuhara, Chen Yufei and Sindhu. Only Akane Yamaguchi has clung on in the rankings to be seeded third.

Wang Zhi Yi, the second seed and in Sindhu’s half, isn’t quite in the same league as Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, let alone Li Xuerui or Wang Yihan, whom she slayed a dozen years back. Except Sindhu isn’t the Sindhu of 2019 now. Her experience and sheer focus on doing well at this tournament, though, might be at greatly elevated levels at this point.

Still, did Sindhu leave the All England for way too late in her career, one wonders.