Nagoya (Japan): For the shuttlers, an Asian Games medal is equivalent to an Olympic medal. This is because most of the countries that dominate badminton belong to this continent.
Though a few from Europe – the Danes, a rare Spaniard and now a few Frenchmen – constantly dare to disturb the norm, a medal at the continental bash remains superlative.
The Indians, across 19 editions of the Asiad, have won a total of 13 medals – one gold, two silvers and 10 bronze. Three of them came in the last edition in Hangzhou. If HS Prannoy ended India’s 40-year wait for a men’s singles medal since Syed Modi’s bronze in 1982, the Kerala shuttler was also part of the men’s team that captured a historic silver.
The anchors of that second-place finish were Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Following their exploits in the team event, the duo went on to win the men’s doubles title, securing India’s first Asian Games gold in badminton.
Three years on, ‘Sat-Chi’ will be at it once again. If one had to pick athletes ‘peaking at the right time’ from the 503-member Indian contingent, the fingers, without hesitation, would surely point towards these two shuttlers. Despite an injury lay-off, the pair more than made up for lost time by winning the China Masters – their 10th BWF World Tour title – two weeks ago.
However, even their current form does not guarantee a good result. Every rally and every point will have to be hard-earned. And, like Sat-Chi, their colleagues – two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, among others – will have several Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian hurdles to overcome in their quest for a medal.
While Ayush, who has enjoyed a stellar 2026 so far, including a silver at the Asia Championships in China, is being touted as the dark horse, Treesa and Gayatri’s recent World Championship bronze makes them far from pushovers.
Then there is the old warhorse, Sindhu. Still the highest-ranked Indian female singles player at No. 11 in the world, and with the fire in her belly burning ever so brightly, every contest involving the 31-year-old will garner attention.
Can the owner of a singles silver from Jakarta 2018 and a team bronze from Incheon 2014 add another special something in Nagoya?
On Sunday, the team events played in a knockout format begin when the Indian women hope to sail past Kazakhstan in the round of 16 to meet a Akane Yamaguchi-led Japan, in the quarterfinal on Monday.
The Indian men, on the other hand, begin their campaign on September 21 against Bangladesh (round of 16) and a win will put them against the dangerous Japan with world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka as their biggest weapon.