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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.

Scripted Suspicion

Sharad Pawar’s political career has been a half-century masterclass in Machiavellian manoeuvre, opportunistic alliance-making, and shameless reinvention. At 84, the wily Maratha strongman shows no sign of mellowing. He again reminded Maharashtra why he is trusted by no one. His latest ‘confession’ is that two mysterious individuals approached him before the 2024 assembly polls offering to “guarantee” 160 seats if the opposition ceded difficult constituencies.

 

The question that arises is why is Pawar making these revelations now? The election is over, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has been routed, and the BJP-led Mahayuti sits comfortably in power. If Pawar believed this alleged approach represented a threat to the integrity of the election, he should have spoken before the polls and with names and proof. Instead, he waited months, offering neither evidence nor identities and in the process, undermining faith in the process while protecting himself from the burden of verification.

 

The coyness is as telling as the timing. Pawar claims he does “not have their name or address with me right now” - a formulation so implausible it borders on the comic. This is a man who has navigated every backroom in Indian politics for five decades, who can recall details of party rebellions from the 1980s, yet claims not to know who these supposed electoral fixers are. Either the offer was never credible, or Pawar has chosen to ‘shield’ the actors involved and neither possibility flatters him.

 

Pawar’s MVA ally, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has amplified it. The Sena (UBT) motormouth alleges the same shadowy pair approached Uddhav Thackeray twice - once during the Lok Sabha elections and again ahead of the assembly polls. They supposedly promised victory through tampering with EVMs, if the Sena agreed to hand over ‘difficult’ seats. Raut insists Thackeray refused. But his retelling suffers the same fatal flaw as Pawar’s: it contains just enough detail to be scandalous, but not enough to be tested.

 

This is political theatre of the worst sort. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has already dismissed the saga as a “Salim-Javed script,” and he is not wrong.

 

The timing is especially suspect when viewed through the lens of Pawar’s career. The man has switched sides, split parties and dissolved alliances with cold precision whenever it suited his interests. His habit of dropping innuendo without proof is not new. It is a tactic honed over decades to unsettle opponents and keep allies guessing. That he would deploy it now suggests calculation.

 

Raut’s compulsive need to match or top Pawar’s ‘inside stories’ betrays a hunger for controversy. In a coalition that desperately needs discipline, Raut is like an unguided missile

In politics, timing is everything. Pawar and Raut have chosen the moment least useful to the cause they claim to serve, but most useful to their own relevance and that of their doddering parties. It is a habit Maharashtra has seen before and one reason the opposition keeps losing, even before the votes are counted.


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