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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.

Trial By Fire

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

Chandrashekhar Bawankule

Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s meteoric rise in the state politics is a mesmerising story of the success of democratic process and how even a common man can make to the top in a democracy.


Chandrashekhar Krishnarao Bawankule, born on January 13, 1969, in Koradi near Nagpur had completed his graduation in Science, but had no means to run the family and hence had started running auto-rickshaw on the Koradi-Nagpur road. He has a natural knack to connect with the people and this very skills carved a labour leader out of him. He use to chit chat with the labourers he use to ferry to and from the Koradi thermal power station which made him aware of their real issues and the exploitation they were facing. He built their union and fought for their rights.


Bawankule’s political journey began in the early 1990s when he founded the “Chhatrapati Sena,” a social organization aimed at addressing local issues. His dedication to social work caught the attention of senior BJP leaders, and in 1995, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party under the mentorship of Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP in Maharashtra.


In 2004, Bawankule was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Kamthi constituency defeating senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik. The party had no good face to field from the constituency and was considering it as a lost seat and hence Bawankule was fielded from the constituency. However, his victory came as a pleasant surprise for the party and it raised his stature within the party. He successfully retained his seat in the subsequent elections in 2009 and 2014. His tenure as an MLA was marked by his focus on development and infrastructure projects in his constituency


Born into a Marathi Teli family Chandrashekhar Bawankule grew up in a farming family with no prior political background. His political acumen and leadership skills earned him several key ministerial positions in the Maharashtra government. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Minister for Energy, New and Renewable Energy. During his tenure, he was instrumental in implementing various energy projects and reforms aimed at improving the state’s power infrastructure.


In 2019 assembly election he was denied party ticket owing to come corruption charges. However, later he was sent to legislative council and in August 2022, Chandrashekhar Bawankule was appointed as the President of the state BJP.


As the state president of the BJP Bawankule has a herculean task to deliver a desirable result for the party on the backdrop of its under performance in the Lok Sabha elections. If he could deliver his status in the party would rise. A failure will confine him to Nagpur only.

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