Badminton in 2024: A rollercoaster year of heartbreaks and fresh talent

The dynamic duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty left a lasting impression but Lakshya Sens meltdown in the Paris Olympics bronze medal match was frustration at its peak in a bittersweet season for Indian badminton during which moments of brilliance were often overshadowed by heartbreaksIt was both the best and worst of times for Satwik and Chirag who reached four finals and won two titles raising hopes for a historic Olympic medal However their campaign ended in disappointment with a quarterfinal exit in ParisThe Asian Games champions solidified their status as one of the worlds top pairs with titles at the French Open Super 750 and Thailand Super 500 and runnersup finishes at the Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750 but the Olympics remained an elusive dream for the second time in eight yearsThe heartbreaking loss saw their Danish coach Mathias Boe resign but the return of Malaysias Tan Kim Her who is credited with bringing Satwik and Chirag together by the end of the year provided a muchneeded boostFor Sen it was a case of so near and yet so far He was the beacon of hope for India at Paris His journey to the semifinals at the French Open and All England Champions early in the year revived his sagging form and reignited dreams of a maiden Olympic medalHowever the 23yearold from Almora fell agonisingly short in the bronze medal match at the Olympics a loss that will weigh heavily on him for a good amount of time After a challenging return to the circuit Sens title win at the Syed Modi International offered optimism for the upcoming seasonDisappointment was also in store for PV Sindhu Indias twotime Olympic medallist who endured another challenging year in 2024Chasing the holy grail of lost form Sindhu made multiple changes to her coaching staff and moved base to Bengaluru at the end of last year to train under the legendary Prakash Padukone but early exits from tournaments continued highlighting her struggles with form and fitnessSindhu showed flashes of her brilliance reaching the Malaysia Masters final but her dream of an Olympic treble was dashed following a prequarterfinal exit marking her first medalless campaign in eight yearsThe 29yearold from Hyderabad however closed her season on a high by clinching the Syed Modi International title and is all set to tie the nuptial knot by the end of this monthFor HS Prannoy the season was one of perseverance and adversityWhile his compatriots fell to superior opponents Prannoy struggled with his health once againBattling a relapse of a nagging gutrelated issue and a bout of chikungunya just ahead of the Olympics the determined shuttler managed to reach the knockout stages in Paris albeit far from his bestIndian shuttlers medalless show at the Olympics prompted a disappointed Padukone the 1980 former All England champion to call for greater accountability from the playersAshwiniTanisha GayatriTreesa show promiseThe two womens doubles pairs Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto and Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly delivered promising performances that kept Indian badmintons momentum intactAshwini and Tanishas qualification for the Paris Olympics was nothing short of miraculous considering their modest ranking at the start of the year While they exited early in Paris their title win at the Guwahati Masters reinforced the belief in their partnershipGayatri and Treesa on the other hand overcame the disappointment of missing Olympic qualification to claim their maiden Super 300 title at the Syed Modi International Their qualification for the World Tour Finals capped a breakthrough yearEmerging talents hold promise for futureWhile they may not yet be on the level of established stars like PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal several young shuttlers have shown promising performances signalling a bright future for Indian badmintonAmong the rising talents Anmol Kharb and Tanvi Sharma stood out National champion Anmol played a crucial role in Indias historic gold medal win at the Asian Team Championships and reached the final of the Guwahati Masters highlighting her growing potentialTanvi the national runnerup also made her mark with a maiden final appearance at the Super 100 Odisha Masters where Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar claimed his first BWF titleOther promising players such as Arundhati Reddy Devika Sihag Isharani Baruah Ashmita Chaliha Malvika Bansod and Tanvi Patri also held out hope for the futureMalvika in particular impressed with fearless performances against higherranked opponents finishing as the runnerup at the Hylo Open Super 300Para shuttlers shine at ParisKumar Nitish led Indias para shuttlers to an outstanding performance at the Paris Paralympics securing five medals including a gold two silvers and two bronzes marking the countrys bestever showing at the GamesAlthough fivetime world champion and defending goldmedallist Pramod Bhagats suspension by Court of Arbitration of Sport CAS due to a whereabouts clause failure was a setback Nitish rose to the challenge clinching gold in the SL3 category and retaining the title for IndiaOther medalists included Suhas Yathiraj silver SL4 Thulasimathi Murugesan silver SU5 Manisha Ramadass silver SU5 and Nithya Sre Sivan bronze SH6 who all contributed in keeping Indias flag flying high in ParisWith agency inputs