It’s not unprecedented. Lee Chong Wei and even Viktor Axelsen have exited World Championships early as top seeds in last decade. But Shi Yuqi is on a hot streak of 3/3 Super 1000 titles this year, and 9/9 tournament finals since start of 2024. So, Indian badminton fans can be excused their morose mugs at the sight of the World No 1 drawn against Lakshya Sen in the Badminton World Championship draw. It’s a depressed fan base, long-suffering since Paris Olympics, and prone to dunking own players at slightest hints of Top 10 opponents lining up early.
Sen, however, has no such luxuries to sit and mope.
And all things considered Round 1 might be the best time to go up against the toughest opponent in the draw. Shi Yuqi is not ideal to face in the first round, but when dreaming of a World Championship medal, isn’t having to beat big names inevitable? It’s how India won its last medal – Prannoy playing a masterfully strategic game, plotted by Pullela Gopichand and Gurusaidutt, to down Viktor ‘The Axelsen’ at home in Copenhagen in 2023.
Ask Sindhu, Saina, Sai Praneeth, Srikanth or Satwik-Chirag, and they will reel off all the ‘big names’ they roiled against, ro earn their medals. For Sen – there’s Shi Yuqi, and hopefully Christo Popov, Alex Lanier and Li Shifeng, though plenty hinges on how his back, shoulder hold up and what Sen’s stamina reserves, are at.
Go back a year, and there was similar mourning and muttering over Lakshya Sen’s Olympic draw. He was placed in a group where he had to play an extra match, and which had Indonesian Jonatan Christie, at that point, looking good for a podium, if not gold. Jojo had beaten Sen the last couple of times, and would start as favourite. But it was some steely nerves and a pinpoint tactical game that helped the Indian get past the Indonesian, top the pool and get out of the group.
But even before the draw, Anders Antonsen had made a pertinent point: he said Sen was a dangerous floater that everyone wanted to avoid early, and Christie felt the KO punches, as did Chou Tien Chen later.
Sen’s meltdowns against Viktor Axelsen and Lee Zii Jia which denied him a medal, deserve a separate piece. Not so much the tactics (though those can be threadbared in hindsight), but his inability to summon a certain kind of heavyweight game, when smashing or killing at the net, at the business end in Paris, and letting himself down psychologically, cost Sen those matches. But early in a tournament, when he was not tired in the mind, and fresh and motivated, Sen could snatch momentum away from Christie, a clear favourite.
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It’s why playing Shi Yuqi – if he must, and he needs to – is a better proposition in Round 1 than in quarters, with a medal on the line. Let’s call it the best of the worst-case scenarios.
Sen is prone to over-training, putting inordinate pressure on his back and shoulder in needlessly rough training sessions, and exerting in the gym more than some think he ought to. He does this to be best prepared. But the back can backfire. He goes into the Paris Worlds with a massive hit on his confidence after the Olympics and first round exits on Tour, but as any coach would tell him, there’s literally nothing to do about past disappointments.
Yuqi is no slam-bang, impetuous hitter – but neither was Jojo. But the Chinese’ vulnerability – the tiniest one – might be his eagerness to win a World title, which he hasn’t all these years, but can this time. With Viktor Axelsen having pulled out, everyone will have breathed a sigh of relief, but Yuqi will be under some pressure to make that count, so having the devilishly disruptive Sen across the net, might be equally unpleasant for him, as his visage and elegant game will be for Sen.
All of Kodai Naraoka, Loh Kean Yew, Li Shifeng and Alex Lanier are bunched in Sen’s half, so it’s going to be one painful ride if he gets past Yuqi to run into aggressive playing styles that he struggles against. But a badminton World Championship medal never came easy to anyone. The bitter-better, clutching-at-straws way of looking at things might be to glance at the draw, and thank the heavens for Kunlavut Vitidsarn for being in the other half.
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There’s a similar toughening-up brief to be delivered to Satwik-Chirag. Satwik woke up on his birthday on Wednesday and was gifted Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang in Round of 16, and Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik potentially if they get past the Thais, in quarters.
The Indians tend to start well these days, and should back themselves against the Chinese first up. The results aren’t dizzying great, but the game is far more prepared for what Liang-Wang can throw at them. If the shoulders are alright, the Indians ought to think of Paris before the Olympic disappointment, when it was their favourite venue, where they won their last title.
Aaron-Soh are fantastic players, but not unbeatable by the Indians. Luck can have its way with them, but even on a downturn, Satwik-Chirag make tournament semis, and can play the big game at will.
Form book says India could end up with a second straight wretched August at Paris, and no medal for first time since 2010. But there’s scores to settle with Paris, redemption arcs to traverse, and miles to go before Indian fans turn crabby.
