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Journalism of Courage
The Badminton World Junior Championships were supposed to catapult C Lalramsanga and Mizoram into the mainstream fame-universe of Indian badminton. A supremely talented doubles shuttler, with all the ingredients for success, ‘Sanga’ as he is popularly known in badminton, however failed. A heartbreaking loss in mixed doubles alongside Taarini Suri, as they got sucked into the Japanese trap of flat drives in pre-quarterfinals, means a dream of an entire region, was stunned out silently.
Silence isn’t new to Sanga. The painfully-shy Mizo shuttler who won’t smile for group photos and resists social media or even meeting people face-to-face barely talks. He needed to be dragged last Sunday to get into the bronze medal winners picture as India sealed a historic Mixed Team bronze. He stood at the corner of the group frame, with an unmoved face, though he had been instrumental in India landing the first ever team bronze.
As the Junior World’s wind up in Guwahati with all eyes focussed on whether Tanvi Sharma will win gold or not, Mizoram’s beautiful haunting valleys that genuinely love badminton, are at crossroads. Without an individual medal in juniors, can Sanga stay motivated to continue? Can someone who needs confidence and validating wins in badminton – his only avenue for expression – last in a sport without junior results and sponsorship, or even simply survive in this self-promoting world?
Sanga’s silences are tough to interpret.
There is a corner of India called Durtlang — with stunningly beautiful sunrise vistas — where not cricket, but football, casts long shadows on every other sport. The gateway hills to Aizawl in Mizoram, have given India several footballers to boast of — from Jeje Lalpekhlua to Isaac Vanmalsawma.
For C. Lungmuanpuia, father to two boys who played badminton instead of football, his quiet ruminating treks when he found himself not taking in the panoramic views, were filled with a single worry as a parent. Should his younger one, Lalramsanga, pick badminton as a career? Especially when he was scoring 90% + routinely at school.
Last week, when Sanga helped India nick a maiden mixed team bronze, his father was finally convinced that he had taken the right call to play badminton. A week on, the doubts are back.
Lungmuanpuia had gotten the two brothers started out in badminton when posted at Mamit district, while employed with Mizoram’s PWD. He coached them because he loved the sport since college, and Durtlang has a healthy culture of sports halls for badminton and TT, both of which he played. “I was reluctant because both got selected in a talent hunt and Sanga asked to go to Gopichand academy in Hyderabad. But he wasn’t a footballer, like those in our community, who earn very high salaries even at 18. Sanga had won junior doubles national titles, but there were no benefits. He was a good student, so I wasn’t convinced if badminton was his future,” the father recalls.
It didn’t help that Sanga was introverted, and was equally adept at table tennis, football and even basketball. He hardly emoted on the court either, but Lungmuanpuia saw a sparkle in his eye when he played badminton. “He’s smart, strong, has a good defense, never celebrates and stays calm,” his father, also his first coach, assesses.
A few foreign coaches hinted he could play singles too, but the father put his foot down. “He’s good at mixed doubles. India has had great success in singles already. Now we need to win big at both doubles. I told him nothing doing. Stick to doubles,” he recalls.
The Durtlang Multipurpose hall would see the father-sons trio train till late, and this fortnight has been a congregation of neighbourhood fans, all following Sanga’s progress on YouTube from Junior World’s. “We felt so, so proud when he came on to play men’s doubles and helped India beat Korea,” says K. Vanlaldinpuia, secretary of Mizoram Badminton. “The sport is very popular, but watching our guy as part of the Indian team and winning the main matches was emotional.”
Vanlaldinpuia says there’s something in the crisp air (and water) of Durtlang that the hilly north end of Aizawl, produces top class athletes. “Temperatures are cold, air is pure, people are active. The drinking water quality is good because we all practice rain water harvesting. Durtlang produces strong athletes,” he says.
Sanga recalls an idyllic childhood. “When I was in Mizoram I always wanted to play badminton as my father used to play at the state level and he only taught me and my brother to play. When I started, I loved watching Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan play. I am still a big fan of them because of their consistency at the top level. There are many players who win one or two tournaments and then don’t. But these two were consistent,” he says. “I like LeBron James a lot and have followed Messi and Ronaldo. But nowadays I don’t get to watch any other sport much,” he adds.
Sanga is considered a special talent because he can pair up with myriad partners, and still rustle up wins. His personality stays reserved, but on the court, the game sense exudes from his footwork and doubles nous. The father struggled because he couldn’t fund both careers, and the brother gently retreated to Raipur where he trains, trying to find a breakthrough.
But ask Sanga why he stuck on and he says, “When me and my brother used to play with my father, we played hard. It was going to the stadium with my brother for practice and even for tournaments that I liked the most. Our father is a government servant so he didn’t really coach other players. Just me and my brother.”
When Tata Trust set up around 40 centres in Mizoram after being scouted out by Pullela Gopichand, his career got streamlined. The pressure to deliver for India though is high from the community accustomed to football royalty. “His father is regularly questioned about his game on the streets, and local people stop to ask and advise about the game. We expect a lot, the topmost performance, from him. Just like our India footballers,” Vanlaldinpuia says.
It’s been a tough two days now, answering questions about his loss to Japanese doubles find Shuji Sawada and Aoi Banno in Round of 32. His game impressed with its whiplash flex speed, but skills need many upgrades. “I can hit a very hard smash and I am confident about my movement on the court. But I need to work on hitting better angles because sometimes even though I hit the smash hard, I lose balance or I am in the wrong position and that is something I am working on,” he says.
While badminton is his refuge, he genuinely doesn’t like mingling with people much, and needs to be goaded to click and post pictures, not too smitten by social media either.
“While training in Hyderabad and Guwahati, I miss my Mizo friends the most. There are 3-4 friends with whom I can talk a lot. But not on the phone or message. So now only when we meet at the national ranking or any tournament, we spend a lot of time together. Otherwise, I don’t really like to talk a lot,” he says.
What does Sanga do besides badminton? “When I am not playing badminton, I normally listen to music and do shadow boxing in the gym or in my room. On the weekends, I love to go out and eat as we are allowed to go out only on weekends,” he says. With his world juniors finished, the restrictions will be gone. But can this career setback be overcome? Neither Sindhu, nor Satwik-Chirag or Srikanth won World Junior medals. But their coaches drew them pathways.
As much as the World Juniors is about triumphs like Tanvi’s, it is also about failure and sad silences of Sanga.
