top of page

By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same...

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same narrative unfolded on a cricket field, the reaction would have been dramatically different. In cricket, even defeat often becomes a story of heroism. A hard-fought loss by the Indian team can dominate television debates, fill newspaper columns and trend across social media for days. A player who narrowly misses a milestone is still hailed for his fighting spirit. The nation rallies around its cricketers not only in victory but also in defeat. The narrative quickly shifts from the result to the effort -- the resilience shown, the fight put up, the promise of future triumph. This emotional investment is one of the reasons cricket enjoys unparalleled popularity in India. It has built a culture where players become household names and their performances, good or bad, become part of the national conversation. Badminton Fights Contrast that with what happens in sports like badminton. Reaching the final of the All England Championships is a monumental achievement. The tournament is widely considered badminton’s equivalent of Wimbledon in prestige and tradition. Only the very best players manage to reach its final stages, and doing it twice speaks volumes about Lakshya Sen’s ability and consistency. Yet the reaction in India remained largely subdued. There were congratulatory posts, some headlines acknowledging the effort and brief discussions among badminton enthusiasts. But the level of national engagement never quite matched the magnitude of the achievement. In a cricketing context, reaching such a stage would have triggered days of celebration and analysis. In badminton, it often becomes just another sports update. Long Wait India’s wait for an All England champion continues. The last Indian to win the title was Pullela Gopichand in 2001. Before him, Prakash Padukone had scripted history in 1980. These victories remain among the most significant milestones in Indian badminton. And yet, unlike cricketing triumphs that are frequently revisited and celebrated, such achievements rarely stay in the mainstream sporting conversation for long. Lakshya Sen’s journey to the final should ideally have been viewed as a continuation of that legacy, a reminder that India still possesses the talent to challenge the world’s best in badminton. Instead, it risks fading quickly from public memory. Visibility Gap The difference ultimately comes down to visibility and cultural investment. Cricket in India is not merely a sport; it is an ecosystem built over decades through media attention, sponsorship, and mass emotional attachment. Individual sports, on the other hand, often rely on momentary bursts of recognition, usually during Olympic years or when a medal is won. But consistent performers like Lakshya Sen rarely receive the sustained spotlight that their achievements deserve. This disparity can also influence the next generation. Young athletes are naturally drawn to sports where success brings recognition, financial stability and national fame. When one sport monopolises the spotlight, others struggle to build similar appeal. Beyond Result Lakshya Sen may have finished runner-up again, but his performance at the All England Championship is a reminder that India continues to produce world-class athletes in disciplines beyond cricket. The real issue is not that cricket receives immense attention -- it deserves the admiration it gets. The concern is that athletes from other sports often do not receive comparable appreciation for achievements that are equally significant in their own arenas. If India aspires to become a truly global sporting nation, its applause must grow broader. Sporting pride cannot remain confined to one field. Because somewhere on a badminton court, an athlete like Lakshya Sen is fighting just as hard for the country’s colours as any cricketer on a packed stadium pitch. The only difference is how loudly the nation chooses to cheer.

Birds of a feather

Headley, Kasab, Mir’s links to Muridke terror school

Mumbai: The infamous David Coleman Headley, Sajid Mir and the hanged desperado of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Ajmal Kasab enjoyed close links among themselves as well as the terrorist training camp in Muridke, near Lahore which was targeted during the ‘Operation Sindoor’.


Mir was once declared ‘dead’ by Pakistan, but after pressures from multiple directions, he was resurrected, caught alive and arrested, proving that country’s role in actively abetting terror, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told the media. In fact, Mir was a key participant at every stage of the November 26-29, 2008 Mumbai attacks by 10 armed extremists, including Kasab, of the Lashkar-E-Taiba.


This came to fore during the deposition of Pakistani-American national Headley alias Daood Sayed Gilani, who - along with his Pakistan-Canadian friend Tahawwur Hussain Rana, currently in custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) - had recced multiple sites for the 26/11 covert operation.


Mir, with a dozen aliases to deceive international snoops, practically looked after the LeT’s ‘foreign affairs’, and was among the closest confidants of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, as revealed by Headley.


Headley said that he ‘reported’ to Mir, who asked him to do a recce of the National Defence College in New Delhi and Chabad House – Jewish places of worship – and his assignments were also known to another ISI shady operative Major Iqbal.


The details

After Mumbai’s 26/11, Indian intelligence and security agencies learnt in depth about the weird goings-on in ‘Markaz Taiba’ a multi-level institution to indoctrinate and train terrorists. As further revealed by ‘Markaz Taiba’ alumnus Kasab, Headley and others, similar activities are going on in other such centres like Mansehra, Muzaffarabad, Azizabad and Paanch Teni, monitored by the fearsome Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, one of the Most Wanted on the NIA list.


A cradle for terror training

In his confessional to Mumbai Police, Kasab provided a vivid account of ‘Markaz Taiba’ LeT training camp where he and others were taught terror tactics in two sessions of three weeks each, followed by advanced training when they were given hints of a mega-strike operation due for execution within a few months.


He shed light on why the India’s commercial capital Mumbai was selected as a high-profile target, the moral and political justification for the attacks put forth by the LeT bosses, on how to enter slyly through the soft Arabian Sea route, the larger picture of ‘liberating Kashmir’ from India’s control, plus the lure of guaranteed place in ‘Jannat’ (Heaven) for joining that suicidal mission. Headley elaborated on Muridke in his deposition before Mumbai Special Judge G. A. Sanap (in Feb. 8-13, 2016) by Special PP Ujjwal Nikam, and during the cross-examination (March 23-26, 2016) by Adv. Abdul Wahab Khan. He spoke about the ‘Markaz Taiba’s highly qualified terrorist ‘Masters’ like Abu Furkhan, Abu Hamza, Sanaullah, Abu Fahadullah, Abu Usman, Abu Saeed, and the dubiously distinguished ‘Visiting Faculty’ comprising Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

\

Comments

bottom of page