Expresso Sports Feature on Indian Badminton’s Secret Seven: Key Moments and Mannerisms of Olympic-Bound Shuttlers

There will be lots of mayhem and hopefully some medals too as Indian badminton launches one of its most intriguing challenges at the Paris Olympics. In an unpredictable scenario, the medal count could be three or none.

An earnest, sincere sport that chips in with regular medals to prop up India’s tally at the Games, badminton is also a rare discipline that keeps buzzing with year-round activity on the Tour. Aside from hockey, the shuttle might have the highest visibility and recall value of Indian athletes and their opponents amongst Olympic disciplines and makes for great streaming sagas and television. Rivalries, court antics, typical mannerisms, celebratory jigs and shenanigans of India’s shuttlers can make for great reels and video edits, for any shuttle enthusiast on the lines of court bloopers intercut into their triumphs like the pros made the iconic Dire Straits’ Walk of Life.

Paris might also well be the last time we see the likes of PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy and Ashwini Ponnappa in Olympic action. So, medal or not, here’s a not-so-secret list of typical tropes and signature sightings of India’s shuttle society of Secret Seven headed to Paris:

1. PV Sindhu

From Rio to Paris and with Glasgow, Basel and Carolina’s Spain thrown into the mix, there’s one camera freeze that’s a constant whenever Sindhu is on the court: how when she takes a breather and walks off for a towel-down, she can double down flexibly to reach her toes without the knees bending. Two Olympics and 5 Worlds medals later, Sindhu has remained a superior athletic specimen and her ramrod straight silhouette and grand wingspan reach remain incomparable. There are a bunch of tear-your-hair-out occurrences – her line judgments can frustrate, though the last two months have shown extraordinary improvement in her review choices. Then there’s her proclivity to get provoked by tiny triggers when she loses a lead.

2. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

His monster smashes are breathtaking, but watch out for when he slows down his breathing, chuckles and gets into positional play from the frontcourt. You can watch him absorb pressure – nuance his power and slow down the pace – while Chirag settles down his nerves. Watch him draw opponents to the net and casually float the shuttle to the backline. He carries that Indonesian vibe of loving every moment of the contest to bits, and through his whimsy serving and awkward body defending to majestic backtracking and smash leaps, Satwik remains the Cool Cat, never fazed on the court. He will be forgiven if he forgets dance moves if the gold is on the horizon.

3. Chirag Shetty

His swivel serves and blank face are iconic as is the diagonal sideways charge to the net in a blink. But watch for his perfect 1-2s with Satwik, when Chirag’s echo smashes match the other one’s in sheer savagery as he leaps from right behind Satwik for a kill smash. There will be nervous blips from him, but he makes up for them unfailingly and in quick time too. His racquet changes mid-rally are dramatic, but nothing signals a fluent Chirag on a roll than his backhand scythes at the net while on the move. The headbands are well known and so is the ‘huuuudd’ cue for when he’s revving up for a rally. Both shuttlers tend to be reverential before entering the court and kissing the racquet head. Chirag’s chemistry with a furious Mathias Boe is what they call pure cinema.

4. HS Prannoy

If HS Prannoy was a movie, everyone could saunter in 20 minutes late, for the first set in invariably a trailer or ads for what is to follow. You can see his brain processing the conditions, the drift, the lengths, the opponent’s mistakes and discomforts, like he’s Iron Man’s 3D printed model for time travel. Wild one-sided scorelines making a mockery of momentum in the first two sets, Prannoy can switch on his ace game as the finishing nears. His shots to behold – the surprise backhand down the line and increasingly the expansive cross smash. But the most mesmerising – and an indicator of a good day – is his unbelievable net control, inches over the tape and how he’s fearless against the biggest reputations.

5. Lakshya Sen

His compulsive, hypnotic reflex defence is the stuff of highlight packages. Sen’s dives and immersive rallies add to the lore. These are jaw-dropping. His utter refusal to be bullied by a big name and that poker mug that gives away nothing is a constant. For some strange reason, the round-the-head smashes have gone missing since coach Anup Sridhar left. But in the absence of a proper kill smash, Sen is compensating with parallel exchanges and length variations, mixing his tosses and drops and half smashes. Sen loves the big occasions – an All-England semifinal, an Asiad team final, CWG title match. So, he was born to shine at the Olympics.

6. Ashwini Ponnappa

India’s quietest storm in badminton. She has evolved from being a bubbly junior to Jwala Gutta to a wise senior, who never transfers blame onto her hyper younger partner, and soaks the pressure of staying kind and calm. One of the hardest smash hitters once, Ashwini has bought into the reality that women’s doubles will be attritional and lengthy and patience-sapping retrieving. She still marshals the backcourt expertly but has grown into a clutch mentality. It’s difficult to maintain fitness standards at 34, but Ashwini has seldom taken to the court and not given her all.

7. Tanisha Crasto

The baby of this Indian badminton contingent. Her energy is infectious, she never gives up, and she digs the net battles. Tanisha can pull off some outrageous angles if she stays calm and consistent through the punishing phases of a rally. She will scamper around, inject pace and find the gaps while squatting mid-court. But the thing to watch is when she backs herself to take rare control of the rally like a puppeteer. Closing out is a challenge, and she’s inexperienced. But she has perhaps the finest control over round-the-heads from super-imbalanced positions. No dearth of commitment, just needs to believe she can match the remaining three on the court in strokes.