How Indian badminton slid from Olympic medals to crushing defeats

From winning medals at the Olympics and World Championships on a regular basis thanks to the rise of the Saina and Sindhus and Srikanths to struggling to make an impact in the last couple of years, Indian badminton has undergone a serious decline.

The Indian badminton team is off to a forgettable start at the Sudirman Cup,
suffering a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Denmark in their opening Group D clash on Sunday with the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra helping their team avoid a 0-5 rout with a victory in straight games.

With badminton powerhouse Indonesia, who completed a clean sweep over England on Sunday, also placed in the same group, India’s chances of advancing to the quarter-finals of the event in China’s Xiamen were slim from the very beginning.

What further minimised their chances of going the distance in the 19th edition of the prestigious tournament was leading men’s doubles pair
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty getting ruled out of the tournament due to illness, with the Badminton Association of India (BAI) not naming their replacement in the squad.

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