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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.

Poll Sentinel

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

As India’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar faces a daunting political landscape ahead of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections. In the former state particularly, where the electorate is polarized and major parties like Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are fractured, Kumar’s leadership will be tested like never before. His stewardship of the Election Commission (EC) has drawn scrutiny, but he has remained resolute in defending the integrity of the electoral process.


Kumar’s resolve came under the spotlight after the Congress party, defeated in last week’s Haryana Assembly elections, raised questions over the functioning of EVMs, particularly about the state of their batteries. The CEC dismissed the allegations with a rare blend of technical precision and disdain for unfounded claims.


Under Kumar’s leadership, the EC has continuously worked to demystify the functionality of EVMs. Ahead of the Lok Sabha, Kumar, deploying humour in the form of Urdu poetry, called upon political parties to maintain decorum even in the heat of the battle while emphasizing the robustness and security of EVMs.


Yet, while Kumar’s ability to manage technical disputes over voting machines is a hallmark of his leadership, he faces challenges of a different kind in Maharashtra. The schism within the Shiv Sena and the NCP has created a complex battlefield. On one side is Uddhav Thackeray’s faction and on the other is the breakaway group led by Eknath Shinde, which enjoys the backing of the BJP. Similarly, Sharad Pawar’s NCP is fragmented, with his nephew Ajit Pawar aligning with the ruling party. This division has raised concerns about how symbols and party identities will be handled in the electoral process.


The EC faced flak from Thackeray and Pawar senior after the poll panel was accused of doing the bidding of the ruling BJP in awarding the party name and poll symbols of both the Shiv Sena and the NCP to the rebel factions led by CM Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.


A recent flashpoint involved NCP (Sharad Pawar)’s plea for greater visibility of their election symbol, a man blowing a trumpet, on EVM ballot units. Kumar granted this request but declined to freeze the symbol, thus balancing transparency with pragmatism.


In a country where technology, elections, and politics often intersect in contentious ways, Kumar’s most daunting challenge will not be handling machines but managing perception. The increasing prevalence of deepfakes and AI-driven disinformation campaigns could further complicate the EC’s mission of ensuring free and fair elections. Kumar is well aware of these dangers, having issued warnings against malicious narratives prior to the Lok Sabha elections.


Kumar’s leadership has been a mix of methodical rigor and principled firmness. But as Maharashtra goes to polls, he will need every ounce of that resolve. Far more than EVMs, ensuring a smooth election in one of India’s most politically fractured states will demand the Election Commission, under Kumar’s watchful eye, maintain its most precious asset: public trust.

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