Badminton expands its frontiers

Spanish player and world junior No.3 Carolina Marin is featured in a Spanish league poster

The most interesting thing about the World Junior Rankings released by the Badminton World Federation last month was the representation of players from across the world in the top-ten of every event. Amazingly, the top-ten of all five categories didn’t have a single Chinese name – which meant something was amiss. Perhaps it had to do with Chinese participation in the events for which the rankings were taken, for it is inconceivable that there is no Chinese in the top ranks of the juniors.

Having said that, it was still impressive for the likes of Turkey and Spain to propel their players into the elite list. India finds pride of place in the top ten, with two in the men’s singles (Sameer Verma and K Srikanth), and one each in the women’s singles (world no.2 PV Sindhu) and men’s doubles (no.10 Hemanagendra Babu). Sindhu’s team mate Tanvi Lad is just outside the top-ten, at No.12.

Now consider the other countries that are part of the top-ten: apart from the usual suspects like Denmark, Malaysia and Indonesia, we have Finland, Slovakia, Netherlands and France who are rubbing shoulders in the elite ranks of the junior circuit.

Badminton has finally stepped up from being a sport confined to a few Asian and European countries into a truly global sport. The seeds were sown during the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and it has taken over two decades, although there were periods in between when one doubted if it could really transcend its geography.

While the BWF has often been criticized, one must acknowledge that its development programmes across the world, and especially its development centres in Sofia (Bulgaria), Saarbrucken (Germany) and Guangzhou (China) have helped several youngsters from non-badminton nations to become competitive players. It has also conducted smaller tournaments in areas not traditionally associated with badminton, and the results have begun to show even on the senior circuit.

So it is that there is a junior world No.3 in the women’s singles from Spain. Carolina Marin, the tall and striking left-hander, has already been noticed on the senior circuit, and she might well cause more youngsters to take up the game in her country. Marin has apparently come up through a talent development programme. Spanish national coach Fernando Rivas told the BWF website that the programme has already produced a few promising women shuttlers. “Perhaps it has to do with our culture (where the boys play football) that badminton in Spain is finding a lot of talented female players through our talent programme,” he said. “Besides Carolina, there are many other Spanish girls who are already making their mark in Europe. We hope for Carolina to compete at the Olympic Games and break into the top 5 in the world eventually.”

Spain is among the sporting heartlands of the world, for it has produced wonderful football talent and the incomparable Rafael Nadal. If Carolina Marin manages to accomplish even a tenth of what they have done, she will have done immeasurable service to badminton. A Spain that takes up badminton alongside its other sporting pursuits will be a welcome addition to the badminton world.