By Prarthana Hazarika
New Delhi, Aug 24: India’s solitary medal at the BWF World Championships may not represent the kind of home triumph the country had hoped for, but it has offered something potentially more valuable — a glimpse of the next generation ready to take Indian badminton forward.
The bronze came from Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, an emerging women’s doubles combination that was not among the obvious pre-tournament medal favourites. Yet, on the biggest stage, they played with the quality, energy, understanding and skill to light up a packed Indira Gandhi Stadium.
For former India international shuttler and badminton analyst Ajit Wijetileke, that is the biggest positive India can take from its home World Championships campaign.
“India has had a solitary medal and it may not have been the greatest show at a home World Championship. However, the encouraging sign is that the medal came from a young emerging pair who showcased world-class badminton, and not from the expected medal contenders in singles and men’s doubles,” Wijetileke told The Meghalaya Express.
“Treesa-Gayatri set the court on fire with their quality, energy, combination and skills. They gave a packed IG Stadium and India much to chant and cheer. Definitely, they can get into the top three to five if they continue to improve, mature and stay fit and healthy.”
The campaign, however, also underlined how heavily India continues to depend on a handful of established names.
PV Sindhu came agonisingly close to another medal, producing a fighting performance against Wang Zhi Yi before losing a gruelling contest at the finish.
“She showed great heart,” Wijetileke said of Sindhu. “It was another opportunity that India narrowly missed.”
Ayush Shetty, meanwhile, provided one of the brightest signs in men’s singles. He showed on the opening day that he possesses the game to beat the best, but could not reproduce the same level against Alwi Farhan.
Wijetileke nevertheless believes Ayush can become one of India’s leading singles players in the years ahead.
“Ayush showcased that he can beat the best on day one but couldn’t produce the same level against Alwi. I believe he is a definite medal hope in coming editions and will carry India’s singles medal hope in men’s singles for years to come along with Lakshya.”
Lakshya Sen’s campaign, however, fell well short of the standards he has established at major tournaments.
“Lakshya looked not as sorted and composed with his game, playing mindlessly and not as sharp and smart as he can be,” Wijetileke said.
“He didn’t look hungry for a great opportunity of a home World Championship. Being a performance-mind trainer myself, I can say he definitely needs to work on refreshing himself and finding his drive back.”
For Wijetileke, Lakshya’s current struggles should not obscure his potential.
“He is too good a player to be playing this way. He is hitting his best years as a player and is a medal bet when in form for a few more years to come.”
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty remain central to India’s medal ambitions. Wijetileke believes the pair’s quality is unquestionable and that confidence, match fitness and sufficient competition are the key ingredients they need.
“Satwik and Chirag know how to do it. They simply need the confidence which comes with full match fitness as well as sufficient match play.”
But beneath the individual performances lies a bigger question for Indian badminton: Does India have enough genuine medal contenders to consistently challenge the world’s leading nations?
India has reached a stage where medals at the World Championships are now expected rather than celebrated as an extraordinary achievement. Yet Wijetileke believes the country still lacks the depth enjoyed by the strongest badminton nations.
“India has become a strong enough badminton nation to expect medals at World Championships and that’s a great sign,” he said.
“Having said that, we are still not completely sure whether we will get medals since our medal contenders are limited compared to the leading countries who have multiple medal contenders in each event. That shows a lack of quality backup and depth at the top end.”
The contrast with France is particularly striking.
India has close to 100 men’s singles players inside the world’s top 650 — roughly one in six — but only two featured at the World Championships when the maximum quota is four.
France, meanwhile, had three men’s singles players in the draw and produced a stunning men’s singles world champion in Alex Lanier. France also produced world champions in mixed doubles.
“Who would have believed a few years ago that a Frenchman would be World Badminton Champion?” Wijetileke said. “Even more unbelievable is a French mixed doubles pair being World champions.”
For India, the lesson goes beyond this particular World Championships.
Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag and Lakshya have carried the country’s medal hopes for years. But the emergence of Treesa-Gayatri, Ayush and Unnati Hooda suggests that a new group is beginning to challenge that established order.
The crucial question is how many from the next generation can actually graduate from promising youngsters into top-10 players and genuine World Championship medal contenders.
Wijetileke is particularly optimistic about the women’s singles pipeline.
“Unnati, Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita, Malvika, Rakshita, Isarani, Anmol, Devika, Tanvi Patri and Shriyanshi give me real hope in the women’s singles that we can have a few who would graduate to the top 10 and become medal worthy in time.”
But that optimism is not yet matched across every discipline.
“We cannot speak of the same numbers in men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles or mixed doubles.”
That, according to Wijetileke, is where Indian badminton needs to look beyond immediate results and strengthen its development structure.
“In a country which has amongst the largest active competitive badminton players, we have much work to do to raise our quality in strong foundational development and careful transitions in various age groups through a unified culture of a quality-oriented approach.”
The objective should not simply be to produce more players, but to create a larger pool capable of competing — and winning — at the highest level.
“I am very hopeful that we can translate the large quantity of players into top medal winners with some course correction,” Wijetileke said.
And perhaps that is the real takeaway from India’s solitary medal at a home World Championships.
The bronze may not have come from the names India expected to carry its campaign. It came from a young pair that refused to be overawed by the occasion.
Treesa and Gayatri have shown what is possible.
The challenge now is to ensure they are not an exception — but the beginning of a much deeper Indian challenge for the world’s biggest badminton prizes.
