Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin never reached World No 1 in men’s doubles. Their best was #2 in September of 2022, and you could say that a shorter turnaround between Tokyo and Paris might just have helped when they went on to win back to back Olympic titles, on either side of that ranking high. There were absences from the circuit which might have cost them some connect and popularity with fans around the world, though. But they showed up when it mattered in an Olympic-heavy sport like badminton, winning gold in 2021 and 2024.
On the other end of the spectrum are Indonesia’s hugely popular Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, the Minions. They ruled the ranking charts as World No 1s for a mighty 272 weeks according to Tracker MS/WS, starting mid-2017. But never could nail down a medal of any colour at the World Championship or the Olympics in what remains the biggest mysteries of badminton.
The Minions era, though, that took them past the doubles heyday of Lee Yong Dae was when the sport earned itself a TV audience, thanks to their playing style. Fast, flat, ridiculously talented, enviably deceptive, the Indonesians became fan favourites, drawing an entire generation towards doubles between 2016 and nearly 2022. The wow moments never stopped when Kevin-Marcus played, and their matches got watched in Live stadia and on television for the skill and speed rush they offered as they went about stringing together an incredible number of titles.
It wasn’t a smashathon or the European or Chinese way of bombarding opponents with big hits, but racquetwork that explored ludicrous hitting angles, clinically elevated heart rates if those watching and undoubtedly left opponents scratching their heads, and in turn bolstering their own games to counter that barrage. Kevin was the little maestro at the net, and Marcus no less talented with his creative game, that took badminton beyond realms of medals, titles and legacy calculations.
Ben Beckman lauds the #BadmintonIcon that is 🇮🇩 Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
Happy retirement, legend. 🫡 pic.twitter.com/Y2TPT4JsUM
— BWF (@bwfmedia) May 17, 2024
Like Wiaan Mulder, the South African who simply refused to hack down Brian Lara’s 400 score, unmindful of whether anyone would remember him 50 years hence without the statistical milestone (or just confident that he will get the mark against an Australia or England), the Minions legacy too will not get pinned to a point in time. A date. A number. A picture on the podium. A trivia question. There’s a continuum to their emergence, the years they dominated and faded out, imprinted at best in youtube rabbit holes.
Eye-poppingly, none of their 37 finals on the World Tour or in the Super Series era were against the double Olympic champions, Taiwanese Lee-Wang. History will look at the equally talented but not as consistent Lee-Wang with awe, but those who followed badminton in those 2016-2021 years will not quite easily forget the headrush and racing heartbeat and completely messed up breathing patterns of when they watched Minions play. And to think they followed right after the peak of perhaps the finest and most respected men’s doubles players, Hendra Setiawan and Mohammed Ahsan, also Indonesians.
The 272 weeks when the Minions ruled, winning close to 30 titles, including Asian Games and All Englands, however will remain a statistical hallmark. Always asterisk’d by why they never got anywhere near the annual World Championship or Olympic medals in all these years.
On the cusp of World No 1 next are Koreans Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho, who have played half the tournaments (9) most others have in the ranking period, add to the slightly mental ways in which men’s doubles has ebbed and flowed – or whirlpooled with no one quite dominating for long. As per Tracker MS WS, the next best amongst the contemporary pairings have been Chinese silver medallists from Paris, Liang Wang (48 weeks), compulsive All England winners Alfian-Ardianto (37 weeks), Danish fighters, Anders Rasmussen & Kim Astrup (24), Asian Games champions Satwik Chirag (18) and Japanese former World Champions, Hoki-Kobayashi (14). Malaysian Ong-Teo were on 8 weeks before being upstaged.
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It’s a little like the golden period of women’s singles, though not as prodigious and delightful. But there’s serious talent in that bunch, and skills that make up for the absence of the Minions. To add to the continuing adoration of mens doubles, Lee Yang and Wang Chi Lin too played some very eclectic badminton to win their Olympic golds. But quiz any upcoming men’s doubles shuttler from any part of the world in the continental junior meets underway, and they would tell you what an indelible mark the Minions left.
The gold and podiums were not quite nailed, and they couldn’t quite put the ring on Olympic greatness. The era, though, firmly belongs to the mighty Minions.
