Satwik-Chirag interview: ‘Wouldn’t want my kid to play badminton’

Satwik: I never share anything usually. I let go of things. But this time, I exploded. Someone has to speak up. It’s okay if I’m seen as the villain. In the last six months, I’ve been thinking that do only people who do bad things become popular. (When we crave appreciation), as players, we don’t want big things. No, we don’t want prize money. Even if a kid walks up to us and says, ‘Bhaiyya you played well or we want a picture with you’, we are happy.

What triggered this?

Satwik: We were at the airport, taking a seven-hour flight back from Germany to Hyderabad. Nobody even asked us who we are, what medals we have won. There were so many Indians, many Telugus. We were wearing Thomas Cup jerseys. But everyone was busy with IPL, politics, whatever. Same thing when we won gold in 2022. We should have celebrated much more. People don’t realise these chances might not come again. It is very tough to win the Thomas Cup, even medalling is tough. When we landed at the airport, all the players were just booking cabs, Prannoy, Srikanth, Dhruv. Nobody around seemed to notice. My friends came to pick me up, but I felt really sad looking around at that airport scene – top athletes trying to book cabs.

Chirag, your thoughts?

Chirag: It was that feeling that ‘still nobody cares.’ See, we never expected people would come to the airport to receive us. Last time when we won, we were well received, we met the PM, and we were felicitated. But the way it should be celebrated, it wasn’t. Those who watch badminton appreciate it, but the general public just doesn’t know the magnitude of the 2022 win. Makes me sad that we are not yet a sporting nation. There’s only a little that the government and the federation can do. Their schemes are terrific. But the sporting ecosystem doesn’t celebrate achievements.

Satwik, what does this do to your morale?

Satwik: When Chirag’s dancing celebration reel went viral, I was happy. But I remembered how somebody plays some random thing, and it gets 1 million followers. And I ask myself, ‘Why?’ Here we are fighting to win, and if we get injured, there’s no replacement for us. We play without support and under immense pressure in team events. But even a title was not enough last time. Again this time. I told Prannoy I’ll not let my kid play badminton. If you are strong mentally, you’ll manage, but otherwise it’s really tough to keep going on like this (with a large part of the country oblivious to our performance). Frankly, at the Hyderabad academy, we were felicitated, and that small bouquet and cake cutting was enough. We don’t expect anything grand.

Do you think pre-tie selection discussions or even criticism is actually a good thing – that people care enough to talk about badminton?

Satwik: Those who watch and are really genuine do put out good tweets. I even kept screenshots because I would feel good. But in February, at the Asian Team Championships in China, I needed to leave after three matches, because there was a puja at home for my father’s death anniversary. There were social media comments about, “how could he just leave the team?” These things stay in your head and really affect badly. Not all youngsters are going to be strong, and will struggle badly. I left Twitter (now X), might leave Insta too. And I’m happy that way. Even this time, they said, ‘Why can’t you beat France and why are you shooting reels after bronze?’ I wanted to say, even we wanted gold. We are more disappointed than any of you. But I decided not to get into it.

Satwik, why were you not in the dancing reel of Chirag that became popular? You didn’t like the steps?

Satwik: That was the only argument I had with Chirag this time. We had been in the stadium for 4-5 hours, and were to take a bus to the hotel at 7pm and the flight at 3am. I was tired, so I told them let’s shoot it later. The thing is, I wanted to finish packing and have a free mind.

Chirag: Prannoy sent the trend to me, and we decided to go ahead with it. We dragged Ayush (Shetty) when he was returning from laundry and made him dance. Now, some people (Satwik) are angry, and sitting in the corner sulking about missing out.