While fans, funders and fame-managers assigned to market athletes, might desire year-round consistency and constantly reassuring headlines, even of streaky wins, what has truly been lost in 2024 is the ability of Indian shuttlers to win titles.
As expected, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty picked the only two notable title wins this year – French Open and Thailand, just before the Olympics. But the glaring reason why Indians are lamenting a poor season is because no singles shuttler managed to string together 5 wins on 5 consecutive days, at any of the Super 1000s or even Super 750s and Super 500s in 2024, as the sport went into free fall at the top. Lakshya Sen’s run to the Olympic semis was commendable, given no Chinese or Japanese got there. But 2024 will be spoken of for its disappointments, rather than relative surprises.
It’s boggling because it didn’t used to be this difficult. Saina Nehwal had perfected the art of title runs. Sindhu, whose ranking surge stopped at No 2, could once be trusted to keep India riveted playing top finals season after season – and though she lost as many as she won, there was the assurance that an Indian was in contention.
Prannoy took his time to crack the code, and Lakshya Sen made the most of his surprise-element especially in that reflex defense. But Kidambi Srikanth was perhaps the only men’s singles player who knew how to navigate the 5-day peak-on-Sundays drill. It’s noteworthy that Srikanth first got his newspaper bold headlines only after winning Thailand Open GP Gold, before proceeding to beat Lin Dan for the China Open crown. Youngsters have it easier now, but never has India in the last 15 years seen a lean phase such as this in raking in bonafide title wins.
Satwik-Chirag look the only ones who are capable of meeting the high standards set in the past few years. And if there’s one thing the Olympics disappointment in quarters will do, it is fire them up to win the missing ones on Tour – All England and China. Literally nobody discounts them as contenders, and they are hungry to win alright. But there’s an acute score to settle, a lapse to mend, an anomaly to urgently correct – avenging losses from three finals in 2024, that weirdly set the downbeat tone for the Paris plummet of dreams. Losing China, Malaysia and India finals sowed such doubts that the Indian duo, who have won 8 very significant titles, hardly recovered at the crunch.
Satwik-Chirag look the only ones who are capable of meeting the high standards set in the past few years. (PTI)
So why are Indians struggling to win titles? For Satwik-Chirag, the troubles may seem related to fitness. But their game has been in dire need of being expanded in its variety and nous for a while now. A new coach can unlock some of those knots, but the ambition to not just resume winning, but learn and unlearn when needed, has to keep burning, along with the stark realisation that reaching World No 1 is no guarantee of a complete game. There are serious chinks in their armour that need addressing, but both have the perfect attitude to put their heads down and work on these. The duo never set much store by ranking, nor did they ever get over-confident, but the Olympics loss and defeats in ‘those’ three finals would have drilled in the clarity of what’s still missing. A Plan B when their attack is blunted, is a dire need.
For the rest, answers are simpler. Prannoy needs his peak-fit weeks to go beyond the Malaysia title. He wasn’t unimpressive at Olympics, but illnesses can hold him back. Sen tends to be at a loss against technically superior players. He just can’t bring himself to believe he can match them, and deficits in his game might be the cause of under-confidence, because fitness isn’t his big problem going from Day 4 to Day 5 of a tournament.
Srikanth’s game is in free-fall, and unless he specifically focusses on All England building towards it, he will only be dawdling about. Everything is a genuine problem – temperament, fitness, his motivation. But there’s far too much talent there for that career to peter away, just because All England conditions are inimical.
Sindhu might be in that same boat, with problems aplenty, with third set fitness a major concern. For some inexplicable reasons, she prioritized consistency over tunnel vision for chosen titles, and ended up winning neither. But with all odds stacked against her, a sudden title would look so swell.
Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Priyanshu Rajawat are bound to cop criticisms for inconsistency, but should they sort out fitness woes, they can start nailing Sundays soon. It’ll be a hard plod, not easy at all. But the waits are worth it.
The art of winning a title – 5 precious wins – is something Kiran George, Malvika Bansod and Anmol Kharb desperately need to get on-board. Anmol sure has the temperament for it, the other two need to prop up their recovery-game, which tends to be singularly important. It’s negotiating different playing styles, staying hydrated and refuelled, sleeping well, believing they are good enough to go the distance and superior on-court coaching all of which catalyse a title. Somewhere Indians have forgotten how it gets done, making 2024 gloomy.
Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth and Satwik-Chirag made it look easy, and suddenly India was spoilt in thinking titles just fetch up. 2024 has been a reality check in how they simply don’t come out of thin air. Lakshya Sen could start with the Indian tournaments, and take headlines beyond one-off marquee wins. Because there’s nothing quite like 5 solid wins Tuesday through Sunday to show the world India hasn’t forgotten how to win.