The young, juvenile brigade in charge is truly changing the landscape of Indian badminton. As the saying goes, the new prevails over the old. And the ages of 16, 17 and 18 are really magical. This is when the player achieves success in the senior world ranks and builds a memorable career. Of course, by then he must have worked real hard and hard on the court and track for many years.
Let’s take the case of Prakash Padukone, who won the junior and senior national championships at the age of 17, and in the same year it was Thomas Kapur who made waves at the international level.
Madhumita Bisht played for India at the age of 13 at the 1978 Asian Badminton Championships in China. The prodigy won 29 national championship titles in all age groups, including five consecutive Triple Crowns at senior levels. I don’t think this record will ever be broken.” Not just yours,” says Bisht.
Saina Nehwal is the player who really changed the outlook of our shuttlers and brought a paradigm shift in Indian badminton. At the age of 16 she was good enough to win the Philippines Open, a 4-star BWF event, and in the process defeated the then world No. 2 of China, Wu Huawen, in the final. The rest of his career is truly historic.
PV Sindhu, who is training in the same center, thought that if Saina can do it, why can’t she? It required focused training with only one thought in mind, ‘I too will be a world class player. By the time she was 17, she had already won the Asian Junior title, a very difficult championship to win. In the same year, Sindhu stunned the world badminton scene when, at the China Masters, she edged 2012 London Olympics gold medalist Li Xerui in three tough games. And she was a top 20 ranked player at the age of 17.
But now, 20-year-old Saina is well past her prime and is finding it difficult to crack the initial phase; She recently lost to 20-year-old Malvika Bansod in the India Open. And since Sindhu has not won any title for the last two years, barring the Swiss Open last week, the time has come for the youth brigade. The top women’s doubles pairing of Sikki Reddy/Ashwini Ponpa is also past 30 and finding it difficult to progress from the opening round. It’s time to take a new order. And they are announcing their arrival on the world stage in a real way.
Welcome to the new brigade led by the sensational Lakshya Sen. This dynamite of a player has made a remarkable journey in world badminton. As a junior he was exceptional, a high-aged player with glee. He began playing international championships at the age of 16 and reached the quarterfinals of the Vietnam and Belgium Opens. At the age of 15, he was reaching the semi-finals of major tournaments in Asia. In 2017, he again reached the quarterfinals in Vietnam and the very next year, took a game to Chinese legend Lin Dan at the New Zealand Open, eventually losing 21–15, /15-21, 12-21. Remember, at that time he was only 17 years old.
Lakshya announces his arrival as a serious player who is very ambitious and who is not afraid of big names. And he plays to win. In 2019, at the age of 18, he won four international titles – Saarlox Open in Belgium, Dutch, Germany and Scottish Open. Then came the 2021 Blitzkrieg, in which he played nine consecutive tournaments – culminating as a bronze medalist at the World Championships in December. I remember congratulating him on his performance. “Oh sir, but I lost the silver,” he said almost tearfully. In 2022, he won the India Open and reached the final of the German Open and was runner-up in the All England.
But for me, what he told me when I congratulated him after receiving the bronze was illuminating, eye-opening and surprising, all rolled into one.
The Next Big Thing: Naisha Kaur Bhatoe, 13
The young players of the country are always striving to become world class, nothing less. They are putting in hours a day training and coaching and are not intimidated by big names or experienced opponents. I’ll start with two games from Teen Brigade that are making waves in senior age groups. These are 14-year-old Unnati Hooda from Rohtak and 13-year-old Naisha Kaur Bhatoe from Mumbai. Naisha incidentally played the role of young teen Saina in the biopic of the Indian star.
It is a pleasure to talk to the soft spoken and courteous, always smiling, irritable Naisha. Except when she’s in court and demolishing everything. “I like to be aggressive on the court, playing with controlled aggression. I don’t like playing defensive games because it bores me.” Naisha started playing at the age of seven under coach Jitesh Padukone, who has a truly shining diamond in her hands.
Naisha has been under his tutelage for the entire duration, except for the year of her stay at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. He was selected under the talent scouting scheme of IDBI Bank and Gopichand Academy.
“She does intense training for three hours daily. I train her really hard and she never asks for hard training. He has a lot of attention and is a pleasure to coach. And she has always wanted to play against people under the age of 13,” says Jitesh.
In fact, I saw her play once when she was 11 and she was absolutely fabulous. I was stunned to see his backhand toss from his baseline to the baseline of the opposite court, an extremely rarity in one so young.
In Maharashtra, he had made a splash in state-level events, winning less than 15 titles and even troubling some Under-17’s Applecart. Isn’t she afraid to play against very old opponents? “No sir, not at all. I play to win and I don’t care who I’m playing. It’s their problem but I’ll play my game. I don’t get nervous at all,” says a confident Naisha .
She recently won the women’s title at the Greater Mumbai District Championship in an area that had some very good and experienced players. This is in addition to winning the Under-17 title. In the women’s singles final, Naisha defeated veteran Riya Arolkar 21-3, 21-14.
He also won the National Under-15 Championship in Panchkula. But what has wowed the badminton fraternity for her amazing talent is when she recently got the game of current world no 1 Tasneem Mir from India at the All India Senior Event held in Chennai recently. Naisha wants to play senior and senior open events only in the age group of 17 and 19. This year she will play in Belgium’s Under-15 and 17 International Championships. Mark my words, Naisha Kaur Bhatoye, is a name you will hear a lot about in the near future. And no one would be happier than a serious group of experienced players at the most prestigious club, led by former state champion Ayaz Bilawala and former veteran national champion Gautam Ashra, at Bombay Gymkhana, where she often goes to play singles.
Unnati Hooda Making Waves
Unnati, who hails from Rohtak in Haryana, also defeated world No. 1 junior ranked Tasneem Mir to beat Malvika Bansod, who defeated Saina Nehwal in the India Open. Unnati means progress and how it has sparked progress. A very mature head on her shoulder, she lives, eats and breathes only badminton. His coach Pravesh Kumar says, “We train twice a day, sometimes thrice at our center in Rohtak. She just likes to be in court all the time. Of course there is school and he has to take the exam. But apart from school time she is addicted to badminton. Unnati’s body is almost the same as that of Saina Nehwal, same playing style and same thinking. She just doesn’t care who is across the net. She walks well on the court and follows the bird as if there is no tomorrow. Though long rallies don’t bother her, she prefers to bring smashes as soon as possible.
Unnati is PV Sindhu’s idol and wants to win a medal in the 2028 Olympics, but her short-term goal is to play in as many senior BWF events as she can to improve her ranking. The way she is progressing, we wouldn’t be surprised if she wins the Senior Nationals this year itself. He has a lot of confidence in his ability and his fitness. “She came to my coaching center when she was seven years old. I have taught him everything from holding a racket to court training, which is essential in the sport. We entered her in a tournament under-11 in Delhi and she won. Since then he hasn’t looked back. Unnati won the Under-13 civilians, and is ranked No. 1 among Under-15s in India,” says Pravesh.
According to Pravesh his biggest quality is his discipline, his punctuality and patience. “She won’t leave the court until she learns that I’m teaching her how to play the stroke”. The coach says that his main goal is to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Unnati has reached the big stage in the country only at the age of 14. Ranked 418th in the world rankings, he defeated Smit Toshniwal who is ranked 128th. And Malvika Bansod is currently ranked 67th.
While Naisha and Unnati are still being groomed, it is the 18-20 year old who is slowly, but rapidly, gaining experience and maturity to enter the world arena, to name a few junior national coach Sanjay According to Mishra, and already making waves are Arushi Kashyap, Aditi Bhatt, Tanisha Crosto and Malvika. With Tasneem any of these girls can replace PV Sindhu.
Now that he is going to take over as the general secretary of BAI, it will be tough to follow him as the national junior coach. Target is a good company. The men’s singles players are doing well and there are many exciting prospects. Kiran George is at the forefront of the new names.
Promising talent coming out on top in doubles
In men’s doubles too, Satwik Sai Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are in a great class and are in their field. But NR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are doing well and the duo will be around for some time. The men’s pair is in safe hands. Youngsters like Ishaan Bhatnagar and Hemansgendra Bapu are wandering here and there to make a place in the Indian team. Now all the duets have good talent.
In mixed doubles, for example, Tanisha and Ishant are doing really well. Runner-up at last year’s Scottish Open, they combined very effectively to win the title at the Syed Modi Memorial Badminton Tournament in Lucknow. He is currently the best in mixed doubles for India.
In the women’s doubles also, the rankings of some very exciting pairs are improving. Ashwini and Sikki have been greats over the years, but age is really taking hold of them and they may find it difficult to compete with the likes of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, who performed exceedingly well and created history by becoming the first Indian pair. Reached the semi-finals of All England this year.
Along the way, they defeated some really good pairings including the second seeded pair from Korea in the quarterfinals. While Gayatri controls the net and works the shuttle around, she also creates an opening for Treesa which provides unlimited firepower to bring down opponents. The pair also deftly convert defense into attack and aren’t afraid to take the best in the world.
Simran Singhi and Rikita Thakar are two such girls who play doubles with the right style and understanding. He has a good sense of rotation to attack and defend well when required. The best part about him is that he is always looking for an opportunity to run over the net, control that area and create smashing opportunities for the partner at the baseline. Indian badminton will soon see new but accomplished faces everywhere. As followers of the game, we have some exciting times ahead.
Amazingly, all these teenage shuttlers and those who are just past their teens share a common thread, that is, their self-confidence, supreme belief in their abilities, and never being overwhelmed by any rival . What has changed since I used to play for India. We used to check if we were facing any Chinese, Indonesian, Korean or Malaysian opponent. because it meant an early exit from the tournament
Nowadays, the rest of the world watches the draw to see if they have been drawn with an Indian player because it means trouble.
This is how this new breed of Indian players is. They go to win. If they have to be selfish on the court then so be it. They are not looking for brownie points. His eyes are glued to the podium finish. nothing less.
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