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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.

The Influential Clan of Sangamner

Updated: Oct 30, 2024

Thorat and Vikhe Patil

Saturday morning began with an angry campaign by Congress workers against BJP in Sangamner as BJP candidate Sujay Vikhe Patil’s party colleague made offensive remarks against Jayshree Thorat, daughter of senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat. Jayshree, an oncologist, was campaigning for her father who is leading his party in the seat sharing talks of the MVA. Jayshree, a member of the Congress, is the third generation of the Thorat family to be involved in public life.


The angry outburst against the BJP man who made objectionable comments against her, is also a reflection of the bitter rivalry between Thorat and Vikhe Patil who have been battling each other for supremacy over the region. Balasaheb Thorat, whose official name is Vijay, is an eight-time MLA from Sangamner and is the former head of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. Known to be warm and approachable to his party workers, Thorat comes with considerable experience in the cooperative movement in Maharashtra, having formed a milk cooperative and founded several cooperative educational institutes under the name Amrutwahini. Over his three decade long political career, he’s served as the minister for agriculture and revenue.


Thorat’s father Bhausaheb was a freedom fighter and staunch Congress leader from Ahmednagar who is known to have worked for the cause of the farmers and peasant community. It is said that when he was denied a ticket by the Congress in 1985, Bhausaheb introduced his son into electoral politics and while the second generation Thorat contested as an Independent candidate and won, he returned to the Congress fold and has been a staunch and loyal party worker since then. He’s never lost a single election since 1985 and the uninterrupted tenure has seen Thorat hold several positions of power, in the government.


Another Congress leader from the region, Sudhir Tambe, is Thorat’s brother-in-law and the two families have, for long, enjoyed considerable influence over the politics of Sangamner through their institutes and sugar mills. Tambe has been a Congress legislator in the upper house for the past 18 years but on the eve of the biennial Vidhan Parishad elections last year, withdrew from the fray to make way for his son Satyajit Tambe who contested as an Independent with the tacit support of the BJP and the Congress. Fadnavis had good naturedly cautioned Thorat that the BJP had set its sights on the young Tambe.

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