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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.

Deshmukh becomes Centre of election campaign

Updated: Oct 30, 2024

Accused on corruption and money laundering and fresh on the heels of a jail term, Anil Deshmukh could become a talking point for the two alliances this election.

Anil Deshmukh

Mumbai: Literature and art join the electioneering bandwagon this month to score a point or attack the opponent. If Dharmaveer 2 is expected to shore up support for the Eknath Shinde camp, Anil Deshmukh’s upcoming book, Diary of A Home Minister has the potential of a becoming a political potboiler as he heaps accusations of bullying and coercion against Devendra Fadnavis.


The issue erupted in July this year when the former home minister made serious charges against Fadnavis for allegedly coercing the former home minister to file cases against other leaders of the MVA. Fadnavis, predictably, denied those, and instead accused Deshmukh of speaking out against his own boss, Sharad Pawar and alliance partner Uddhav Thackeray.


The two sides have traded serious barbs against each other since Deshmukh was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in December 2022. On one side are charges of deeply entrenched corruption while on the other, are charges of coercion and what can be described, in simple terms, as blackmail.


While the BJP launched a high-pitched campaign against Deshmukh when he had to step down as the home minister on the heels of a controversy, the NCP (SP) man had, earlier this year, accused Fadnavis of coercing him into filing false cases against MVA leaders, including Aditya Thackeray, in exchange for avoiding a jail term or withdrawal of charges against him.


With Deshmukh announcing his book that details these allegations, the man could become a key point for the two sides to clash on. For the MVA, he is an example of the devious ways and the alleged abuse of the investigation agencies against non-BJP politicians while for the Mahayuti, he is the poster boy of corruption during the MVA regime between 2019 and June 2022.


In 2021, Deshmukh had found himself at the centre of a massive controversy in which former Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh had accused Deshmukh of directing police officers to collect money from hotel and bar owners with a target of Rs 100 crore per month. Following these charges, Deshmukh had stepped down as Maharashtra’s home minister, He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case in November 2021 and then by the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, in a corruption case in April 2022. He was in prison for 14 months before he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court.


In July this year, Deshmukh had made scandalous charges against Fadnavis, stating that a man by the name of Samit Kadam, had approached him at Fadnavis’s behest with an offer to ‘help’ him if only he would file charges against certain leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT). The NCP (SP) leader had even claimed to have a pen drive which contained evidence about the allegations he made against Fadnavis. Countering him, Fadnavis had denied these allegations and said that he had several audio-video clips of Deshmukh’s remarks against Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.


As the elections near and accusations fly, Deshmukh could well find himself at the centre of a volatile campaign between the two sides.

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