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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.

"PM Modi can run away from special session, but not from monsoon session": Jairam Ramesh



New Delhi: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he can "run away" from a special session of Parliament being demanded by the opposition parties, but not from the monsoon session, which will be convened on July 21.



Expressing reservations over the central government not convening a special session to discuss many issues, including the deadly Pahalgam terror attack and developments following Operation Sindoor, Ramesh accused the government of "diverting attention".



"We've been demanding a special session of Parliament. Yesterday, 16 political parties also wrote. In order to divert attention from the special session, the government suddenly announces the monsoon session of Parliament. The Prime Minister can run away from a special session, but he cannot run away from the Monsoon session," Ramesh told ANI.



He said that the INDIA bloc parties are demanding a special session to be convened immediately since the issues that need to be discussed are "agitating" people in the country now. Ramesh raised concerns about the sudden halt on Operation Sindoor and the revelations made by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan in Singapore about India's losses and gains during the recently concluded conflict.



"We are demanding a discussion on these issues now because these are the issues agitating the people of India now. Why was Operation Sindoor stopped after four days? What has the CDS said in Singapore? Why has Trump, in the last 20 days, repeated 12 times that it is because of him that a ceasefire happened between India and Pakistan? These are the issues the Prime Minister doesn't want to answer," the Congress leader said.



He further argued that this was the first time in the parliamentary history of India that a session had been announced 47 days in advance, and this came despite the continuous demands made by the opposition parties to convene a special session.



"The parliament session is always announced a few days in advance...maybe a maximum of one week or 10 days in advance. Never before in India's parliamentary history has a session been announced 47 days in advance. The object(ive) is very simple. There is a continuing demand from Congress and INDIA parties for a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack," Ramesh said.



He highlighted the concerns regarding the "hyphenation" of India and Pakistan and the repeated claims made by US President Donald Trump that he was responsible for a "ceasefire" between the two neighbouring countries.



"The fact that terrorists themselves haven't been brought to justice, the repeated claims of (US) President Trump...the Narendra ka Surrender to Trump. The hyphenation of India and Pakistan, the growing nexus between China and Pakistan, the failure of our diplomacy and foreign policy and the revelation of the Chief of Defence Staff that has been in Singapore and not in our country. These are the real issues," Ramesh said.



Earlier in the day, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced that the Monsoon session of the Parliament will commence from July 21 and run till August 12. Both Houses of the Parliament are scheduled to convene on July 21 at 11 am, after a break of over three months.



The upcoming Monsoon session will be the first Parliament session following Operation Sindoor, which India launched on May 7 in response to a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives.

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