SUNDAY 22 | APRIL 2018 YOUNG INDIA COMES TO THE FORE
With Olympic silver and bronze medallists as well as a newlycrowned world no. 1 in the side, badminton was always going to be India’s best bet. The shuttlers lived up to that billing with their best-ever haul of two golds, three silvers and a bronze.
Sindhu-Saina contesting the women’s gold medal match was surely the icing on India’s cake. Srikanth came up with a silver show in the men’s section.
The star power rubbed off on the second string as well, spurring the likes of Sikki Reddy, Rankireddy Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty to punch above their weight in the doubles category, not to forget the accomplished Ashwini Ponappa who played the senior’s role to perfection.
While the Sainas, Sindhus and Srikanths were expected to be among the medals it is the emergence of the younger lot, especially in doubles, that is heartening. Satwik and Chirag, aged 17 and 20 respectively, went all the way up to the final to claim India’s first ever medal in men’s doubles. Sikki and Ashwini snared the women’s doubles bronze with commendable performances. Seasoned Ashwini carried a massive load and played as many as four matches on a particular day.
Like Satwik (son of government school teachers in rural Andhra Pradesh), Sikki too has moved from interior Telangana to Hyderabad to pursue badminton at Gopi’s Academy. A historic gold medal in the team event was a massive plus. National coach Pullela Gopichand acknowledged, “The team gold was the highlight. To beat Malaysia was big… fantastic,” he said.
The Indians have arrived. B ehind every successful man there is a woman.’ This is a saying feminists may not be overtly happy with. Manika Batra, world no. 58 and India’s no.1 in table tennis, may just have rewritten the aphorism with her stupendous performance at the CWG into “Ahead of every successful man there is a successful woman”. Batra was in her zone as she helped India scoop their first ever team gold medal in the women’s category. The icing on the cake was beating Singapore, who had not lost the top place since 2002, 3-1 in the final. The gritty Indian edged out Feng Tianwei, world no. 4 and multiple Olympic medallist, to pave the way for an unlikely gold.
Batra’s stellar show marked Indian TT’s coming-ofage in the women’s category. She ended her unforgettable CWG campaign with a bronze medal in the company of G. Sathiyan in mixed doubles.
The men, who won three medals including the team gold, were in awe of Batra. “She inspired us to win the team gold. Beating Singapore was no mean task,” Sathiyan said.