Indian women shuttlers made history this year by claiming Gold in the Badminton Asia Team Championships — for the first time in history. Before the 2024 edition, Indian women had never won a medal in this tournament’s team events which started in 2016. The men’s team had won bronze twice. From this historic win emerged a teen sensation — Anmol Kharb — who beat much higher-ranked and experienced players multiple times in the tournament, helping India secure this hard-fought victory.
Shuttler Ashmita Chaliha and doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela — both 20-years-old — also defeated higher ranked players helping India create history.
But unmistakably, Anmol was the star of the tournament. In the finals, P.V. Sindhu secured victory against Supanida Katethong of Thailand, ranked six positions below her, an expected win. Followed by the Treesa and Gayatri pair’s three-set thriller win against Rawinda Prajongjai & Jongkolphan Kititharakul of Thailand. India’s hopes were high, only for Ashmita Chaliha and the doubles pair Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra to lose the next two matches setting up a decider.
When the chips were down, a Himalayan task awaited — Anmol, a 17-year-old and ranked 472 in the world, had to win against world no. 45 Pornpicha Choeikeewong — which she did by breezing past the Thai player with a 21-14, 21-9 win. This was a repeat act, for she had rescued India in the semifinals too, winning against world no. 29 and 25-year-old Japanese player Natsuki Nidaira, again with relative ease.
This tournament win was a hard-fought victory given that the Indian team mostly faced significantly higher-ranked opponents, particularly in the semifinals and finals. With the exception of two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu, whose opponents ranked a few positions below her in most of the matches, the other members of the Indian team had to fight and win against opponents ranked ten to thirty positions above them.
Table 1 | The table shows the difference in rankings as of February 13, 2024, between Indian players and their opponents in the knock-out rounds of the Badminton Asia Team Championships. The negative number shows that India had an inferior ranking.
Charts appear incomplete? Click to remove AMP mode
For instance, in the semifinals, the world no. 23 pair Treesa and Gayatri faced world no. 6 pair Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida from Japan and emerged victorious. They upset world no. 10 Thai pair Rawinda Prajongjai and Jongkolphan Kititharakul to give India a 2-0 lead in the finals.
Table 2 | The table shows the stages reached by select Asian countries in the women’s championship.
DNQ: Did not qualify | DNP: Did not play | QF: Quarterfinals | SF: Semifinals | R: Runner up | W: Winner
Japan has won Gold twice, with China and Indonesia also securing the top-spot once. South Korea had won silver twice. India has just entered the medals table this year.
Table 3 | The table shows the stages reached by select Asian countries in the men’s championship.
Here, while India managed to secure bronze twice, they never reached the finals.
What’s more stunning is that India entered this tournament without a single women’s player in the top ten rankings in both singles and doubles. Sindhu was ranked eleventh in singles, the highest ranking Indian woman. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponappa were ranked 21st in doubles, the highest ranking Indian women’s pair. Whereas, China had four and three players in the top-ten rankings in singles and doubles, respectively. Japan had three doubles players in the top-ten rankings.
This was truly a win for the ages.
vignesh.r@thehindu.co.in, rebecca.varghese@thehindu.co.in
Listen to our podcast | Arrested abroad? How does an Indian navigate international laws | Data Point podcast
