The New Year Wishlist for Badminton: An Indian sweep of podiums

For far too long, the Thomas Cup was about watching from a distance, as China, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia, and recently Japan, went about fighting like multi-pronged teams for the team title.

India didn’t seem to have three sure-shot prongs. Maybe a two-tine fork – a couple of singles wins. But, depth of three stunning singles, was unheard of. The third ranked of these was the season’s best performer. The first and youngest, Lakshya, was in the middle of his breakthrough season with All England final. And the second singles, answered the refrain: never know which Srikanth will turn up, with: The most fluent one.

Then there was Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, a doubles combination unafraid of eyeball confrontations at the net, with some seriously chirpy Danes and Malaysians. The two stayed calm, didn’t allow any outside din or sledges to even ruffle their hair, forget scramble their minds.

They were looking good for an Olympic medal in 2021. When denied that, they went on a rampage on the Tour, collecting India and French Open titles, and then picking World’s podium and CAG gold. They brought India the Thomas Cup. The prongs would put no foot wrong in Thailand.

So, as 2023 rustles in, the next Thomas Cup or Sudirman Cup suddenly turns into an opportunity where India will be contenders. It’s not strictly about defending a title, as it is about being in contention, playing those one-on-one battles within the larger war, roaring as a team, not as individuals.

Just a hunch, but with Treesa Jolly – Gayatri Gopichand and the spirited Ashwini Ponnappa – Tanisha Crasto in the mix, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, with Akarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod and Ashmita Chaliha as well as Unnati Hooda, even the Uber Cup, looks good for an upgrade from bronze.

Before that though, there’s the All England. Srikanth has taken off to Indonesia in the off-season, and that can only mean serious intent: it might well be a now-or-never shot for him at Birmingham. Prannoy has been playing so well, his good form can easily wing the All England. He really likes big scalps, though now he’s a bonafide Top Tenner himself, and simply part of the elite rung himself.

But more than anything, Indians would want to root at this All England for Lakshya Sen. He was quite sensational last year, before Viktor Axelsen stubbed his challenge. But even Axelsen knows, Sen has the game to stop him and return the compliment. Two of the three to beat him in 2022 were Indians – Sen and Prannoy. There’s a huge gulf between a finalist and an All England champion, and Sen looks the likeliest to bridge it.

2023 is an Olympic qualification year, so it will always be about balancing that long term goal with individual titles. Yet, only two can qualify, so in an ideal scenario, the three singles guys plus Sameer Verma and B Sai Praneeth, as well as Priyanshu Rajawat, Mithun Manjunath and Kiran George need to fan out in draws, take out the big names and attack titles like a pack. Like the Chinese used to.

Because India’s on the many-pronged spree, the doubles pairings aren’t too far behind: Dhruv-Arjun and Krishna-Vishnuvardhan might appear in the slipstream of Satwik Chirag, but success is infectious. And if one pair has cracked it, others needn’t be too far behind in climbing up the ladder.

Why should boys have all the fun?

Shouldn’t. Hence it’s time to dial back India’s greatest individual athlete of all time: PV Sindhu. This was the first season since the beginning of her career than Sindhu lost midway to injury. But she should be back in 2023, reminding India how she is the original world-class, top of the charts elite in badminton.

It’s only because there is so much to do in a badminton season, that the high-achieving Sindhu still has boxes remaining to tick. Like, the All England. She can take inspiration from Danish Tine Baun, that other stately, elegant tall player, who won the first of her three All England titles in 2008, at age 29 – she also won in 2010 and 2013.

The top Indian’s game is well rounded now, and after a truncated 2022, she must be hungry to start winning again. Sindhu starts at the India Open against Thai southpaw Supanida Katethong, to whom she lost last year in Delhi. There was swift payback at Syed Modi a week later, but Sindhu would be keen to return to title contentions, starting at home, before the All England rings in.

She will remain a contender for the World Championships as long as she plays, and a second title will mark her out as one of the world’s greatest of all time, saying nothing of the amazing longevity. Even a mere medal – it can be her sixth – will push her past the Chinese record of Zhang Ning. The fact that Carolina Marin is back on the circuit itself should draw the best out of Sindhu. It’s all fine that Yamaguchi and Co have been staking claims on and winning the World’s. But there’s no rivalry better than Marin – Sindhu to light up a World Championship.

Then there are those proper scores to settle. For Sindhu, it’s getting the better of Tai Tzu Ying. She’s due one revenge. Though a bigger noose around the neck belongs to Satwik-Chirag against Malaysians Aaron – Soh and the Indonesian Minions, Kevin – Marcus.

It’s said on the circuit that it’s just a matter of time, before they consistently start beating these nemeses. But neutralising their attacks with watertight defense, has seemed daunting all of 2022. The first win is eagerly awaited.

Who after Sindhu? tends to be a non-interesting question because Sindhu isn’t done yet. Not even close to being done. She has in fact bought time for the likes of Aakarshi and Malvika, by continuing to contend for titles. Still, it won’t hurt if one of them steps up and takes charge in the coming year aiming for a Top 16 rank by April 2024 – with an eye on Olympic qualification. Saina Nehwal plays on looking for the perfect swansong.

Has Indian badminton had it this good ever? Should you reformat this to bullet points, you might even find 23 reasons why the new year might belong to Indians.