Nandu Natekar's genius

Nandu Natekar (left) with Prakash Padukone and P Gopichand during a function at Mumbai in 2015

"He lit the torch that was carried forward by others. We will never again get to see the God of badminton." These were the kind of spontaneous reactions from veteran badminton players who came to know on Wednesday morning of the passing of arguably the greatest badminton player that India has produced, Nandu Natekar, at the age of 88, from ailments related to old age.

For members of an older generation who have witnessed badminton in the 1950s and 1960s, there can never again be a player who created so much magic on a 22 ft x 44 ft court with a racquet and a shuttlecock. Neither Prakash Padukone nor Pullela Gopichand, the only Indians to win the prestigious All England Championships in 1980 and 2001 respectively, could measure up to Natekar's genius.

Remarkable wrist action

There was sorcery in the wrists of the little man from the obscure boondocks of Sangli, and spectators marvelled at the pedigree of his strokes, the deception and accuracy which came naturally to him. There was nary a trace of the brute force employed by the Europeans and South-East Asians; he was more like Indian cricket's Ranjitsinhji. A flick of the wrist was akin to the waving of a magician's wand; and yet another opponent would be jerked around the court like a puppet on a string.
With the heavy Maxply Dunlop wooden-framed racquet that he used during his heyday, in sharp contra-distinction to the ultra-light, hi-tech metal-alloy frames of today, he could send the shuttle to the exact spot he wanted.

"There is something special about certain delicate strokes in badminton," Natekar was fond of saying. And yet, badminton almost lost Natekar to tennis, a game which he claims to have always enjoyed more than the shuttle sport.

Had it not been for the fact that he lost the 1951-52 National junior final to none other than Ramanathan Krishnan, India might not have had two consummate artists in as many sports. The disappointment of losing that national final made him turn more to badminton.

When one looks at the manner players these days are so uptight about their equipment, worrying about the correct balance and grip size on their racquets, it appears laughable to note that Natekar rarely played with his own racquet. He would request someone sitting at courtside to lend him one, heft and test it for ‘feel', hit a few shots with it; and, if he liked it, would carry on playing with it as if it had been his favourite racquet for some time.

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A thorough gentleman

On the court, he was a thorough gentleman, never throwing a tantrum or questioning a linesman's or umpire's decision. Natekar's best year in the Nationals came at Amritsar in 1961 when he took home all three titles at stake - the singles at the expense of Indonesian Nona (six Indonesians participated in the Indian Nationals that year), the men's doubles in tandem with Chandrakant Deoras and the mixed with Manda Kelkar.

The Natekar family is one of the few to have given to Indian sport a father-and-son combination that has played at international level in two different sports. Like Leander Paes went into tennis even as father Vece had excelled in hockey, Gaurav Natekar has done Davis Cup tennis duty for India which father Nandu so nearly ended up doing. Tennis' loss, in the latter instance, was badminton's gain.

The author, a sports journalist, has represented India in several veteran badminton events. He won the 50-plus men's doubles gold at the World Seniors Championships at Kuala Lumpur in 2004.

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