The double trouble in badminton

Bengaluru: The metaphorical definition of ‘doubles’ in sport is the above sentence with those three words. 

From finding the right partner and complimenting each other's weaknesses and strengths to being less individualistic and working more as a duo can be a complex arrangement. Add ego battles, age differences and injury to one affecting the other into this heady mixture and the outcome, good or bad, is always interdependent.

Possessing these prerequisites, despite a rough start, and mastering the formula of success as a team were young badminton players Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy when they first came together in 2016.

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, in the women’s doubles, had previously spurred an interest. But now, all of a sudden, this exciting new men’s pair drew attention to doubles in recent times more than ever before. 

Winning became a habit and collecting silverware a routine. Finally, badminton doubles had arrived. The Mumbai-Hyderabad combo’s victories brought in a fresh expectation of attracting a whole new generation of Indian shuttlers to the paired events after the sport had set the bar high in the singles’ sections. 

However, the truth is far from it as the individual category still remains the flavour of the day.

“No, not really,” answers Vimal Kumar, Olympian and coach, when questioned if kids at coaching centres show early interest to be doubles specialists. 

“Maybe this is one aspect we are slightly neglecting. Doubles (men, women) and mixed are still the second line. Even though one or two combinations have been given good exposure and are performing, we need to put in a lot more effort to increase the numbers,” he offers. 

The positive move over the last few years was the appointment of a doubles specialist coach for the best pairs in the country. After Mathias Boe stepped down post-Paris Olympics in August, Tan Kim Her - who is credited with bringing Satwik-Chirag together - began his second stint in India with a focus on developing new doubles pairs for the 2026 Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. 

While the cream and the ones closer to the top of the pyramid appear to be under reliable guidance, the problem of finding and sustaining unions, however, prevail lower down the rung. And one of the reasons is because shuttlers want to, and parents prefer their children, play singles over doubles. 

At the recently concluded 86th Senior National Badminton Championships here, Karnataka’s young pair of Nicholas Nathan Raj and Tushar Suveer shocked their fancied opponents Sai Prateek and Pruthvi Roy K, representing Railways, in the final to help the hosts lift the 77th Inter-state Inter-Zonal team title after a gap of 47 years. 

But the two 18-year-old lads Nicholas and Tushar did not enter the men’s doubles draw of the individual event. The Karnataka boys, who won the 2023 junior nationals and several other domestic events as a pair, are being termed as the next doubles duo to watch out for. However, the teens have consciously taken a call to pursue singles over doubles for now. 

“We want to give singles a shot for a year. Because we can always get back to doubles if need be in the future,” says Tushar. 

“But, we cannot take a gamble of training only for doubles now and then revert to singles later,” adds Tushar, who never specifically trains for doubles and only practices as a duo a day or two before entering events.

Both Tushar and Nicholas were ranked as high as no. 2 in the junior boys’ singles' list in India and were even no. 1 on the doubles’ chart. 

“When you compare the accolades and recognition, singles has an upper hand and doubles isn't anywhere close. There is a big difference even in the prize money or cash rewards. Also, Tushar and Nathan practiced at the same academy before, but now they are in two different cities altogether. That makes it harder to focus only on doubles,” says Tushar’s father M Suveer. 

Dwelling on this persistent mindset, former All-England champion and now India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopichand feels the onus of choosing an event for a budding player, based on one's skillset and mentality, is on the coach.  

“This is an important area because three of our five events are doubles,” begins Gopichand. “A player might be 30-40 (rank in the world) but at top-5 or top-10 in doubles, I think (in such a situation) it's better you shift them to doubles. That's the choice which is important. 

“On the contrary, if getting a doubles partner is difficult, then you end up playing singles because it's the easier option to train. So that's the kind of mindset. I think we've grown like Bangalore city, right? You've grown very fast and then you are trying to figure out where the drainage has to go. We've grown too fast,” opines the 51-year-old Dronacharya Awardee on the challenges of channeling the abundance of talent in the right direction. 

An example to showcase the complexity partnerships is that of Ponnappa’s. In more than a decade-long career, one of India’s best-known badminton doubles players paired up with three partners. 

First it was Jwala, then Sikki Reddy and now Tanisha Crasto. The Kodava girl and Jwala made heads turn with their game and more while becoming the first Indian women’s pair to win a World Championship medal and playing two Olympics (2012 London, 2016 Rio). Their age gap of seven years among other reasons ultimately resulted in them splitting up which meant Ashwini had to begin from scratch at the peak of her game and fitness.

Ashwini-Sikki could never recreate the same magic as before and called it quits after a 5-year relationship. Now Ashwini, at 35, is nearing the end of her career while Tanisha (21) is at the start of her journey. Though the duo made fast progress and qualified for the Paris Games, when the time arrives for Ashwini to leave the stage, Tanisha will have a tough time in searching for a new partner. 

Currently, barring Satwik-Chirag at No. 9, there are four other Indian pairs in the top-100 of the men’s doubles. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, at 11, lead the Indian pack of five pairs (including Ashwini-Tanisha at No. 16) in the women’s doubles’ ranking list. The weakest link among all, the mixed doubles, has husband-wife duo B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki at No. 32 ahead of eight other Indian teams. 

“We are decent. There are a couple of pairs in the top-60 in all these categories so it's not bad. But how to get these pairs into the top-30? We should have 10 Indians in the top-30. That’s when we know we have made amends,” says Gopichand.  

Satwik-Chirag treaded a difficult path and showed the way. For the sport to call itself a powerhouse, all the five categories (singles: men & women; doubles: men & women; mixed doubles) require equal attention, supervision, financial incentives and assurances. 

Until such an ideal situation arrives, the lone wolves will continue to enjoy a heyday over the couples on a badminton court.

Highlights - "On the contrary, if getting a doubles partner is difficult, then you end up playing singles because it's the easier option to train. So that's the kind of mindset. I think we've grown like Bangalore city, right? You've grown very fast and then you are trying to figure out where the drainage has to go. We've grown too fast." P Gopichand 

Quote -

On the contrary if getting a doubles partner is difficult then you end up playing singles because it’s the easier option to train. So that’s the kind of mindset. I think we’ve grown like Bangalore city right? You’ve grown very fast and then you are trying to figure out where the drainage has to go. We’ve grown too fast.

-P Gopichand