Letter From Hyderabad The stellar rise of Indian badminton Ashwini Devare For The Straits Times India's PV Sindhu clinched a silver at the 2016 Olympics and a bronze in the 2020 Olympics, among several other global wins. PHOTO: PREMIER BADMINTON LEAGUE UPDATED NOV 26, 2022, 5:00 AM SGT HYDERABAD – A quiet, suburban road leads to the entrance of the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy on the outskirts of Hyderabad in southern India. The academy, which has earned a reputation as a maker of champions, is bustling with activity. Some athletes train in the gym, prepping for a gruelling tournament season, while others practise their smashes in the rows of indoor courts. Outside the facility, construction of a brand new athletic track is under way. The academy is the brainchild of Mr Pullela Gopichand, whose name is synonymous with the recent success of the sport in the country. A former badminton national champion, he founded the academy in 2008, to groom players who could beat established rivals including China, Indonesia and Malaysia, countries that dominated the sport for decades. “Back then, the city of Hyderabad hardly had eight to 10 badminton courts,” Mr Gopichand, 49, told The Straits Times. “I struggled a lot in my playing days for basic infrastructure. Courts, shuttles, coaches, gym, running tracks, I’m not even talking about physiologists and psychologists, just basic infrastructure. We needed to build an ecosystem and that’s how this place was started.” Today, the academy attracts thousands of aspirants and looms large on the country’s badminton scene – one that is suddenly bubbling with promise after languishing for years. Remarkable victories in the past year, including the prestigious Thomas Cup 2022 team win in Bangkok, and a stunning performance in August at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where India took home six medals including three golds, have catapulted Indian badminton players onto the international stage. Mr Gopichand’s academy has produced several badminton champions over the past decade, including two female sports icons and household names, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Nehwal, a former world No. 1, was the first Indian badminton player to garner an Olympic medal, winning bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. She has more than 20 international titles to her name, and her inspirational journey of grit and endurance was featured on the silver screen in a popular Bollywood biopic, Saina, that starred top actress Parineeti Chopra. Double Olympian Sindhu clinched a silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, among several other global wins. Since 2016, Sindhu has consistently been in the top 10, becoming world No. 2 for a few months in 2017. She was also listed among the highest paid female athletes in Forbes’ 2022 global rankings, earning over US$7 million (S$9.6 million) the year before. “When we started off, an Olympic medal was the ultimate destination of the academy,” said Mr Gopichand. “Today, I don’t want to dream so much. I’m happy where we are, because I’m afraid I might dream too small. Because the possibility that Indian sports and Indian badminton hold is immense. “And I do believe we’ve made great strides in the last few years, and the next few years will be even bigger.” Mr Gopichand, who coaches the national badminton team, was himself a top player in the late 1990s. He was the second Indian to win the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championship in 2001, after the legendary player of the 1970s and 1980s, Mr Prakash Padukone, who runs an academy in Bengaluru. Back then, Indian players were mocked at overseas matches, Mr Gopichand recalled. They were not used to playing in big arenas with shuttlecocks that were different from what they were used to. “We would miss shuttles and people would laugh at us,” he said. MORE ON THIS TOPIC Sporting Life: A bond, belief and patience take India to Thomas Cup history Indian badminton has come a long way since the 1990s, said Mr Gopichand, who opened the academy after retiring because he wanted to give back to the sport. “Badminton has been a success story for Indians across the board. We have thousands of courts that have sprung up across the country in the last five years, which we haven’t seen in the last 15 years.” In 2014, Mr Gopichand was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, for his contribution to badminton. “Badminton has risen against all odds in a cricket-obsessed nation,” said Mr Prasad Mangipudi, managing director of Sportzlive, the organiser of the Premier Badminton League (PBL). Since it began in 2015, the PBL, a team league that invites international players, has invested around US$25 million in the sport, which is the third-fastest growing game in terms of participation after cricket and soccer, said Mr Mangipudi. He is hopeful that the PBL, which is owned by the Badminton Association of India, will transform badminton, just like the Indian Premier League revolutionised cricket. “Cricket was a staple diet in India, but now people want more,” said Mr Mangipudi, 59. “Indian men are the current Thomas Cup champions. This was unthinkable even three to four years back.” Five years ago, a Junior category tournament used to attract about 300 to 400 entries; today, a similar tournament attracts 3,000 to 4,000 entries, he said. The PBL, now in its fifth season, has attracted top players from around the world including Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei, Spain’s Carolina Marin, Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying and Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen. “The League produces some incredible high octane action,” said Mr Mangipudi. “It allows home-grown talent a chance to compete against the best players in the world.” Despite the massive dominance of cricket, Mr Gopichand is confident there is a place for all sports in India. “We have a huge population, we need only a small traction to make a sport popular,” he said. “I think there’s enough people in the country who are fanatics of sports in general and of badminton, also. “We just love Indians to win. And if Indians are winning then people would actually watch.” In recent years, several Indian players have made it to the top 10 in global rankings, including Nehwal, Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen. Ace players draw large crowds when they play locally, inspiring legions of young people across India. Kidambi, ranked world No. 11, played a pivotal role in securing India’s Thomas Cup 2022 win in Bangkok. With the 29-year-old as captain, India was propelled to a historic finish, beating out 14-time champion Indonesia. Indians have compared the Thomas Cup triumph to India winning the World Cup in cricket for the first time in 1983. But despite its growing popularity, badminton still faces stiff challenges in a nation where academic pressure on children remains intense, and parents prioritise studies over sports. Preparing for the brutally competitive entrance examinations to top institutions, for example, leaves little time for sports. Many schools also lack resources for sports, which makes it harder for athletes to flourish. Children who want to pursue sports professionally find it a difficult path. Often, they have to travel long distances to reach training centres, and many parents simply cannot afford to pay the costs of coaches, gear and transport. But while India still does not have a big sports culture, attitudes are slowly evolving, said experts. Overall, there are more opportunities and better facilities, Kidambi said. “Things have changed a lot in India over the last decade. If kids can make the right use of it and work hard, they will definitely do well on the world stage,” he added. The outlook for badminton is exciting, even while there are challenges in a country as diverse as India, said Mr Gopichand. “It’s like a continent working with different mindsets and ecosystems. We don’t have a model which we can follow, we will have to evolve. And we will make a few mistakes. “But what the last 10 years have shown is the possibility that this can happen. That will remain, and that will be the benchmark going forward.”
