India as a two-sport nation

I was introduced to badminton soon after I entered IIT Madras in 1971, when there was an inter-hostel competition. No, I was not playing, and a mere spectator I was. But, it featured some state level player (probably in the junior ranks) and that was the bait.

I bit.

And, over the years while I appreciated the speed, accuracy, agility, stamina required for the game (indeed, all sports require some or the other combination of these) I could not sustain my interest in it more intensely than falling for the charm and accomplishment of Prakash Padukone (What has the world come to, if I have to introduce him as the father of the current Bollywood pinup Deepika Padukone?).

Then, nearly twenty years later when I had become OK with racquet sports like tennis, squash etc., I thought I will try my hand at badminton. This was a bad thought, as my shin bones will attest. The shuttle does not follow the path of a projectile as physics teaches us and it is much slower descending. The shuttle repeatedly missed my racquet and the latter coming down in an arc unerringly hit hard on my shin bones. My hand-eye coordination, the lack of it, had nothing to do with these mishaps, you understand! Anyway, the fact that I cannot get even reasonably good at the game made it dearer to me.

Then, Pullela Gopichand first and later Saina Nehwal came along. No, I am not discounting Ashwini Ponnapa, but I must admit, I missed appreciating her exploits. My bad. I am not going to repeat the mistake by not following P V Sindhu. All said, my attraction to badminton was reignited. I started tracking badminton, particularly after Saina’s losing effort at the Beijing Olympics, on which I had blogged wistfully earlier. Now, I am a regular watcher of IBL games.

No, I am not going to claim that it does not matter to me whether Saina is being featured. I do have a soft corner for her kind of play, quite aggressive yet so touchy-feely, a la Padukone. But, I enjoy ALL the matches, between all players, and my current favorite is the mixed doubles. I am a sucker for doubles from the days of John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova, in tennis. I am transferring that to badminton.

I have a few grudges. IBL lasts for less than three weeks. The crowds are sparse. The TV ratings must be “disappointing”, at least to the sponsors and advertisers. I dread the day they pull out of this fledgling effort to promote a game even as the cricket Leviathan waits to devour this intrepid intruder.

There are very few truly meaningful, enjoyable shows on TV. IBL events belong to that set. I want it to survive, indeed grow and attract viewers, stabilize and sustain itself. Then, we can call India at least a two-sport nation, a nation of 1.2 billion people – one sport for 600 million people.

The ingredients are there. The cooks (not the crooks, note) have done their job. The servers are ready. Just file into the dining hall and be seated. The fare is being served.

Raghuram Ekambaram