International Badminton at the crossroads of a new Era in the Men's Game

Badminton greats Lee Chong Wei (L) of Malaysia and (R) Lin Dan of China

China has been the dominant force in the men’s single discipline of World Badminton for almost two decades but eyebrows have being raised as to how long can the Chinese dominance last with the upsurge of rival nations. Perhaps the most eye-catching turnaround of events in World Badminton was that of Japan beating them at the 2014 Thomas Cup finals, an event which the Chinese had in their kitty for almost a decade: they have been winners from 2004-2012. Their ace player Lin Dan is not getting any younger and had two early round exits at the recently concluded premier series tournament (Indonesian and Australian Open 2015) which by his high standards looked rather mediocre. Many critics/pundits of the game foresee a change of order at the top in world badminton sooner or later.

Malaysia was a powerhouse in men’s badminton in the 40s and the 50s with two of its greatest players in Eddy Chong and Wong Peng Soon dominating the men’s game. Erland Kops from Denmark emerged as badminton’s biggest star in the 60s.The 70s was a one man show with the Indonesian legend Rudy Harnato being a cut above the rest. The late seventies and early eighties saw the likes of Liem Swie King and Icuk Sugiarto from Indonesia, Morten Frost of Denmark and India’s own Prakash Padukone fight it out for top honours in the sport. The Chinese had a string of top players in Zhao Jianhua, Xiong Guobao and Han Jian who competed hard alongside the best in the game.

The nineties saw the Indonesians vying for top honours by having a firm hold on the Thomas Cup throughout the decade (1994-2000).The Indonesians produced great shuttlers in Joko Supriyanto, Alan Budi Kusuma, Hariyanto Arbi, Henrawan Susanto and Hedrawan and Ardy Wiranta who dominated the singles game by winning medals at Olympics and World Championships. The Chinese played second fiddle to the Indonesians, with players like Yang Yang and Sun Jun competing against the fancied winners, Indonesia. The Danish were not far behind with the likes of Kenneth Jonassen, Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen and Peter Rasmussen making the field competitive. Then, the Malaysians were well represented by their ace shuttler Rashid Sidek.

With the turn of the decade, the Chinese came to the fore with players like Xia Xuanze and Chen Hong, who won the All England and World Championships respectively. The Golden age of Chinese badminton kicked off with the turn of the century. Lin Dan emerged as one of the greatest shuttlers of all time. “Super Dan” as he is popularly known in the badminton circles has been the dominant singles player in the last decade by winning consecutive Golds at Olympics (2008,2012) and winning the World Championships a record five times. The Malaysian Lee Chong Wei, with whom Lin Dan had the most intense rivalry for the winning most of the premier tournaments, could be hailed as the second best of that era owing to his sheer consistency in winning BWF Super Series on the circuit .

The Great Dane Peter Gade,Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia,Mark Zwiebler of Germany,Korean Lee Hyun (Korea) ,Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia) and Bonsak Ponsana (Thailand) were the great contemporaries and rivals of Lin Dan .With the emergence of Bao Chunlai, Chen Jin and Chen Long, China again produced players of world class pedigree and the reigning World Champion Chen Long looks to be the worthwhile successor to Lin Dan on account of his remarkable track record in winning the premier tournaments in the last few years.

But going into the future, does China have the firepower to hold onto its numero uno position in the men’s game? They have promising young shuttlers in Wang Zhengming, Du Pengyu and Tian Houwei but other rival nations have caught up with them too in terms of skill levels and physical prowess. The Japanese look to have the best crop of youngsters in Kento Momoto,Takuma Ueda,Sho Sasaki besides the seasoned pro Kenichi Tago.

The Danish have the firepower in Victor Alexsan, Jan O Jorgensen and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus to match the best in the world.The Indonesians look to be a force to reckon with by having Dionysius Rumbka and Tommy Sugiarto in their ranks.

Our very own Indian contingent looks very promising with the likes of P Kashyap, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Pranetgetteth and HS Prannoy giving top players a run for their money.

Hence it can be fairly concluded that men’s badminton is going through a period of transition in terms of bragging rights and ascendancy to the top of the sport. In all sports competed at the international level, there are eras where a nation dominates courtesy a string of star players who combine well for making their country a sporting powerhouse but a change is all important to break the stranglehold and I guess world badminton is witnessing a change of guard at the top, which augers well for the sport.