India became so used to a badminton medal from the Olympics in the last 12 years that Paris 2024 seems nothing short of a disaster.

Lakshya Sen emerged as a notable bright spot with a fourth-place finish, but the Indian badminton team, including medal contenders such as PV Sindhu and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, returned empty-handed from the Olympics for the first time in over a decade.