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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.

Test of the Trouble Shooter

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Girish Mahajan

Over the past decade Girish Mahajan has come be known as the most trusted aide of Devendra Fadnavis and an ace trouble-shooter for the BJP. He had been an MLA since 1995 and had been active in the politics since much before that. Yet, the meteoric rise of this fitness-freak leader in the state politics over the past decade is mesmarising.


Born in a Marathi Gurjar family, on May 17, 1960, in Jamner of Jalgaon district of North Maharashtra, Girish Dattatray Mahajan first came to political fore as a student activist on the dais of ABVP in 1978. As an active member of the students’ organization, he engaged in grassroots activities, including painting walls and distributing promotional posters. His dedication and leadership skills quickly earned him the position of Taluka President of ABVP.


Mahajan’s formal political journey began in the early 1980s when he became the Taluka President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. His first significant electoral success came in 1992 when he was elected to the Gram Panchayat of Jamner. This victory marked the beginning of a long and illustrious career in state politics.


In 1995, Mahajan was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the first time, representing the Jamner constituency. He had defeated former MLA Ishwarlal Jain who had a considerable clout over the district politics and hence Mahajan was hailed as a giant killer. He had received an insider’s help from within Jain’s camp and he boasts about it ever since then. After that victory, Mahajan has been re-elected from the constituency multiple times, hoping to continue with the seventh consecutive term as of 2024. His consistent electoral success is a testament to his strong connection with the people of his constituency and his effective leadership.


Within the BJP Eknath Khadse was the prominent state-level leader from the Jalgaon district. Mahajan remained underdog for a long time and after 2014 he got the chance he had been waiting for to carve out a space for himself in the state politics.


Mahajan was appointed as the Minister of Water Resources in the cabinet of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in 2014 and in 2016, he took the role of Minister of Medical Education. In 2022, under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, he was appointed as the Minister of Rural Development. But, his main role in the state politics remained outside the departments he handled. Under both the chief ministers, he remained a prominent negotiator with the Maratha activists. For Fadnavis he always remained a loyal aide whenever there were troubles within the party also. He gained political power by systematically wiping out the opposition from Dhule, Jalgaon and Nandurbar districts of North Maharashtra and has emerged as an undisputed leader of North Maharashtra.

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