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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.

Breathing Room Is a System – Not a Lucky Phase

 You don’t get breathing room by hoping. You get it by blocking.


Week 4 of our Series: Do Less, Grow More Series

We’ve broken down what typically goes wrong:

  • Over-efforting that looks noble but hides chaos

  • Teams sprinting in circles without real progress

  • Founders (and their teams) afraid to say no


But now comes the real question: What happens after the noise stops?Because most people mistake breathing room for a lucky week, a quiet month, or a pleasant client.


It’s not. It’s a system, and if you don’t build it, it won’t last.


The Myth: Space Appears After Things Calm DownMany teams assume that once the overload eases, clarity will follow.That if the founder stops replying, the team will auto-sync.That less noise = more sanity.


But here’s what really happens:When you create space without designing a rhythm, it fills with junk.

  • Extra meetings

  • Micromanaged re-check  

  • Unscheduled brainstorming.

  • Slack messages that start with “quick one?” and spiral into 17 replies

(breathing rhythm = jab kaam time pe ho raha ho, bina har 5 minute poochhe)


The Station Metaphor: Calm Isn’t Passive. It’s Timed.

A well-run train station doesn’t operate on luck. It runs on a pattern where trains arrive and depart. The platform isn’t quiet because no one’s moving, but because everyone knows when and how to move.

And the best stations – they don’t start from scratch every morning but a published rhythm – not personal energy.


Compare that to most scaling teams:

  • Every project is a platform change.

  • Every meeting is a rerouting exercise.

  • And if one person forgets the SOP, everyone misses the train.


That’s not chaos but a lack of choreography.

(decision vacuum = jab time milta hai, par direction nahi hoti)

And that’s exactly what operational breathing room should solve.

 

Case: From Always-On to Owner-Led

We saw this up close with an event ops client, who handled weddings, corporate events, and large-scale weekend shows. Everything depended on the founder, from escalations, approvals, tip payouts, and vendor handoffs to even table arrangements.


No one could think two days ahead, because nobody was allowed to.

We rebuilt their system in three moves:

1.        Prep Windows: Tuesdays and Thursdays became “no escalation” zones. Only prep. No fire drills.

  1. Owner Logic: Every operation block had a named driver – no more “we thought someone else had it.”

  2. Red Flag Slots: Daily 20-minute red-flag window, once a day. Not all day.


In just four weeks:

  • The founder stopped attending Saturday calls.

  • Vendor complaints dropped

  • Team stress visibly reduced


We finally had breathing room.


And then – Rahul dropped by. As a consultant, he meant well and wanted to “check in on how things were running”.


Within two hours:

  • Slack had eight new pings.

  • The red-flag thread turned into a traffic jam.

  • Two fresh project ideas were floating – neither of them scoped, but both were now “urgent”

It wasn’t sabotage but a legacy reflex – consultant energy meets open space.


By Monday, he’d planted four shiny ideas.By Tuesday, five more were sprouting.


So I did what any system designer would:I quietly turned off his calendar access for 24 hours. And that’s when the team finally clicked – no new inputs, no random rework, just delivery.


Because breathing room doesn’t just need buy-in.It needs boundaries. It needs enforcement.

 

What the System Needs

Teams don’t protect space by default. Leaders don’t step back unless it’s visible.And the system won’t hold unless you build friction where it matters.

So we design:

  • Escalation-Free Zones: Times where only project work moves

  • Quiet Runway Logic: Half days with no Slack, no meetings

  • “Hold Your Fire” Boards: If something feels urgent, log it. Don’t ping.

(quiet runway = jab kaam uninterrupted ho, aur boss ko reply zaroori na ho)

 

The Real Insight: Structure Becomes the Space

Breathing room isn’t downtime: it’s uptime – without drama.

You don’t scale by squeezing more but by building slack into the system – on purpose.


While most teams wait for relief, smart teams schedule it.

 

Final Takeaway

Ask yourself:

  • Do you have hours where nothing gets added?

  • Does your team know when not to raise something?

  • Are you protecting rhythm – or just hoping the week behaves?


Because if your team only breathes when the founder’s away, you haven’t scaled. You’ve just escaped – for a bit.


Next week: Success ≠ Sustainability Series


(The author is Co-founder at PPS Consulting and a business operations advisor. She helps businesses across sectors and geographies improve execution through global best practices. She could be reached at rashmi@ppsconsulting.biz)

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