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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.

Govt has done a lot for Marathas, says Sreejaya

Sreejaya

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Sreejaya, daughter of BJP MP Ashok Chavan and party’s nominee from Maharashtra’s Bhokar assembly seat, has said the opposition’s “false propaganda” will not work this time and asserted the government has done a lot to address issued faced by Marathas.


Sreejaya Chavan, who was earlier in the Congress and shifted her political loyalty to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when her father, a former CM, joined the saffron outfit in February this year, was among 99 candidates named by the party in its first list for the November 20 state assembly polls.


A law degree holder, Sreejaya is making her electoral debut from the home turf of Bhokar in Nanded district.a


In an interview with PTI, she said her campaign team is cautioning voters about the “false propaganda” spread by the opposition during the recent Lok Sabha elections, which saw the BJP putting up an underwhelming performance and winning just nine seats in Maharashtra.


The ruling Mahayuti has done a lot to address the issues faced by the Maratha community, which is agitating for reservation in jobs and education, she noted.


She also touched upon the emotive issue of Maratha reservation which is widely believed to have contributed in the BJP’s poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls, especially in Marathwada, the ground zero of the quota stir spearheaded by Manoj Jarange-Patil.


“We are telling people in villages about the false propaganda unleased by the opposition during the Lok Sabha polls. So many issues were raised against certain sections of society. People are intelligent enough, and they understand these propagandas will not work anymore,” she said when asked about campaign issues and what her team is doing to avoid a repeat of loss in the Lok Sabha polls.


“The Mahayuti government has given a 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community (in government jobs and education). Many youths from Bhokar have already benefitted with provisions made for Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBC) by the government,” Sreejaya Chavan insisted.


She dwelt on her political journey from the Congress to the BJP and her new role as the saffron party’s candidate from Bhokar.


“Our family has been working for long for the people in the constituency. After the switch over, ideological and thought process may differ a little bit, but we have always given preference to the people in our constituency. I am giving time to address demands of people in both rural and urban areas,” she maintained.

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