The enduring words of Scarlett, “Tomorrow is another day” – have forever worked against the reds in Indian badminton.
Confident, skilled, unfearing and calm problem-solvers, India’s leading badminton names have always found a way to beat the Chinese, with little fuss or rancour or any overwhelming feelings of rivalry. It’s how Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will move on, from their World Championship semifinal loss to Liu Yi and Chen Bo Yang, the latest from the Chinese stables, who restricted them to a bronze.
It’s simply because Satwik-Chirag defeated the other Chinese pair Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang to secure the bronze medal in the first place. And because PV Sindhu remains undefeated by the Chinese through 14 years at World’s. Wang Zhi Yi was her latest Chinese scalp, a World No 2, whom she swatted aside with nonchalance. Between her and Saina Nehwal, the leading Indian ladies have cost the Chinese women at least 5 World Championship medals (or of a better hue) over the years.
Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen and Satwik-Chirag have mopped up three others in men.
So, how do Indians unfailingly scythe at the Chinese at the big events? By sticking to their strengths, and always believing they are good enough to fight.
The starting point of the Indian badminton mindset towards Chinese opponents is lack of any fear. History says Indians of generations before, have skilfully, cleverly, resoundingly or courageously, beaten the champions from the north, and there is no reason to doubt that streak won’t continue into the future.
It’s an uncomplicated mindset really – planning meticulously, but it is also true that unlike say, Australia in cricket, or even Chinese in TT, there has never been a sustained phase where Indians have been dominated by shuttlers from China, allowing a mental demon to build. There’s never been a cause to fear the Chinese. Or a losing streak to stem. It never got dire. And we are talking since early-80s.
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Yihan Wang caused sustained statistical damage to Saina Nehwal and things got screechy, but it forced Nehwal to dig deep for answers, prop up her game, and eventually helped her nick two late wins against Yihan, and nudge her towards two World’s medals.
Also the Chinese invariably play with slightly more pressure against Indians. It is that pressure to not lose, to not be shown up, to not appear weak and make good their invariably high rankings, seedings and lofty reputations. It’s visible in hunched necks and worried faces of Chinese coaching benches.
The relief when they beat Indians is tell-tale.
The Chinese women’s singles coaches have not quite learnt how to keep their equilibrium when Sindhu goes on a rampage against one of theirs. Her’s is the simplest distillation of dominance – brute power, and aggression, which always throws them. And then she goes on social media exchanging warm heart emojis, inside jokes, winks and friendship bands with Yihan, their biggest hell-raiser of the last 15 years. Nehwal tended to be bad-ass with her unblinking glares in that vague Saina vs China era.
But Sindhu simply smashed, smiled and went laughing all the way to the medal banks year after year. It was quite incorrigible, the Sindhu (c)Harm Offensive.
Pusarla V. Sindhu 🇮🇳 faces up to No.2 seed Wang Zhi Yi 🇨🇳. #BWFWorldChampionships #Paris2025 pic.twitter.com/8Vmqvglun8
— BWF (@bwfmedia) August 28, 2025
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What’s helped this generation of Indian shuttlers though is how Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand saw the Chinese challenge: formidable of course, for you can’t be delusional about a global juggernaut, but not as unbeatable. Their own All Englands and Worlds neatly slashed at the Chinese dragon.
Padukone was at it, back in 1983, a happy year in Indian sport that set the ground rules of engagement in not just cricket. Luan Jin was the all-conquering Chinese then. A defensive return machine and All England champ that year, Juan playing Padukone early at that year’s World Championship, saw his game get claustrophobic as the Indian tightly controlled the shuttle at the net, and sent deceptive clears to the back, denying him the chance to get under the shuttle. The net tumbles – which generations benefit from, including Ayush Shetty next – were sorcery on the front court, annoying Jin, though the half smashes and punch clears boggled him the most, before Padukone won bronze.
Earlier winning the year-end World Cup Finals in 1981, Padukone had taken out the dangerous Han Jian similarly with shuttle control.
For Gopichand 20 years later, his All England came from downing Chen Hong in the final after the Indian refused to blink after 6-6 in the second set and Hong wilted. “I stood my ground, he cracked,” he had once said. It had been the worried Chinese support staff hovering around Hong with worried looks that first alerted Gopichand to some iffy fitness here and a hobble step there. The Indian also carried a whacky reputation since before the Sydney Olympics that sent the Chinese into a huddle on how to tackle him. The Chinese played a certain style, and Gopichand had figured out that if he played his deception at a faster clip, they crumbled. It’s how he had swatted aside Sydney gold medallist Ji Xinpeng casually in Round of 16 at All England, and remained confident that his disguises could toy with them. One Chinese Xia Xuanze however, remained a thorn always. But on the whole the Chinese weren’t problematic once he had them figured.
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Srikanth carried the same self-assurance when beating Li Shifeng in Round 2 at the 2021 World Championships where he won silver. The Indian’s quirky game and his habit of landing post-smash denouements with follow-up net kills when moving well, made him very tricky for the Chinese to decipher. He claimed Lu GuangZu in Round 3, and
Lakshya Sen cleaned up the Chinese, defeating the last remaining and third one, Zhao Junpeng in the quarters, in an entertaining match. One Huelva World Championship that turned out for the India vs China contest.
Indian defense, just mere resistance in prolonging rallies, greatly offends the Chinese. But it’s the audacity and skill and cheekiness of the Indian attack, with power, speed, deception or all combined, and the constant thinking on their feet, that somehow rattles the Chinese. Sindhu has scalped Li Xuerui, Yihan Wang, Shixian Wang, Sun Yu, Chen Yufei and now Wang Zhi Yi, some twice even, and Saina finally worked out her nemesis, Yihan – reading her wrist and refusing to bow down in defense, and running her haggard in a terrific 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 quarterfinal win at 2015 World’s.
It needed years of perseverance, but by the end, Saina’s flicks to back court from the net was paying the Chinese back, in kind, for that’s how Yihan would harangue her, leaving her in tears. At Jakarta, Saina had the last laugh.
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The Satwik-Chirag win against Liang-Wang must be seen in a similar light. The Chinese had been turning into scourges and even the few wins weren’t satisfying. At Paris last week, the Indian duo not only imposed their power, but won a technical battle. They used clever angles on the crosses, and continued to kill with power. Their next face off with the new Chinese Liu-Chen is awaited for how they problem-solve through the latest challenge. Tomorrow is another day.
