The 7-year switch: Indian badminton owes a lot to it

India had lots to cheer about after the Asia Youth (Under–19) Badminton Championships concluded in Lucknow last week. Apart from winning the bronze medal in the team event, top Indian junior Sameer Verma finished runners-up in the boys singles event, losing to the Malaysian Zulkiffli Zulfadli in two well-contested games. But this was not before scalping some top Chinese players along the way. Also, Pratul Joshi and K Srikanth, reached the quarterfinals. In the girls singles, 16-yr-old PV Sindhu reached the semifinals and put up a respectable performance against Yu Sun of China. Sindhu went down fighting in three close games.This, yet again, is proof of the fact that the state of badminton in India has improved over the last few years. Not only are the seniors blazing a trail, but the juniors too. So, what has changed so drastically? Is Indian badminton only riding on the shoulders of the young Saina Nehwal or do the roots go deeper?For any sport to evolve, there must be an all-round development. As far as badminton is concerned, it began close to seven years ago with a vision of grooming players to be among the best in the world. So, hasn’t that been the case all along? Well, not really. It's one thing to aspire and another to act – seriously. This was a serious attempt to make champions.[caption id="attachment_40200" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Eyeing for glory. Beawiharta/Reuters"][/caption]Even before world-class infrastructure was provided to the players, they were fed with a dream – to be world class. The players fought all adversities and roughed it out as juniors with sub-standard training facilities. Yet through it all, the learnings provided to them were smart and in tune with world badminton. A lot of Indian conventions such as having a wide array of strokes before fitness, respect for opponents (especially the Chinese), excess dependence on skill etc. were done away with.Along with this new-age brash attitude, the youngsters played a lot of junior international tournaments that helped them gauge where they stood on the world stage and also helped them get exposed to the style of play of foreigners. Slowly, the youngsters began to get comfortable with the atmosphere and overcome the apprehensions of participating in international events. So, by the time they graduated to the senior category, they were already seasoned campaigners.All in good time, the world-class infrastructure and coaching at facilities such as the Gopi Chand Academy were made available to the players. This only helped them consolidate their training schedules and make them more efficient.Foreign coaches were roped in to provide a new perspective to the preparation of the players. Productive national camps were held all year round where the players were put through systematic and rigorous training schedules. This also helped the coaches monitor each player's performance and design specific training schedules for each, keeping in mind their strengths and weaknesses.Thereafter, the performance of the players improved. International tournaments were brought to India– The Indian Open, Thomas-Uber Cup qualifiers, Asian Badminton Championships, World Championships and the like. The Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010 was the icing on the cake. Playing on home soil helped the players gain the home advantage against opponents and gave the Indian public an opportunity to watch their heroes in action.Scintillating performances by the likes of Guru Sai Dutt and Saina at the World Junior Championships in Pune and Saina, P Kashyap and the pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa at the Commonwealth Games brought the game to the forefront.One must acknowledge the joint effort put in by the Badminton Association of India, the chief national coach, P Gopi Chand, the media, the players and all in the badminton fraternity in bringing glory to the nation through the superb performances of the shuttlers.Today, the players are sponsored and supported adequately. More so, even the Badminton Association of India was able to find a sponsor in Premier Brands. The players are thus provided with the best team consisting of experienced coaches, a fitness trainer, physiotherapist, psychologist and their travelling needs are taken care of suitably.The younger generation is being encouraged to take up the sport as a profession. They aspire to be the next Saina Nehwal or Gopichand. The sport is now providing them with the opportunity to do so.Therefore, it was only a fitting tribute that at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the two gold medals from the shuttlers i.e. Jwala-Ashwini and Saina, on the last day, brought India the overall number two position at the Games.Indian badminton is looking up. The base is set and there is talent galore. So, I may confidently say that we can expect many more badminton heroes in the near future — heroes that shall provide us with a hope of an Olympic gold.