Finally, Indian badminton's new generation arrives

Ever since the emergence of Saina Nehwal as the flagbearer of women’s badminton in India back in 2006, the sports administrators and coaches have been talking of the new generation of Indian badminton stars who have the ability to take the badminton world by storm.

The general argument was that these youngsters were more determined, hungry for success and were far more fitter than their seniors. For the last six years, they were making their presence felt in the national and international ranking tournaments, registering some sensational upsets in the team events. But each time the National champioship – the flagship event in the national calendar – would prove to be their Waterloo as their senior counterparts would dig deep into their reserves of experience to outclass them.

Though the change of guard was inevitable at some stage, every Nationals would end with one question - when? Not anymore.

The 76th edition of the Championship in Bangalore finally witnessed the change of guard with all the five crowned champions being first timers. While rising star P V Sindhu bulldozed through to become the youngest national champion at 16, 21-year-old Sourabh Verma was made to sweat for every victory by opponents even younger than him to lift the Vikas Topiwala Challenge Cup.

Importantly none of the three stalwarts - B Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar and Aravind Bhat - who shared the tiltes for the last eight years made it beyond the pre-quarterfinal stage. While Chetan limped out in his very first match and one wonders whether he would have the hunger to launch a comeback bid after losing almost an year to injuries.

Anup and Aravind fared better but the selectors’ decision of not picking any of them for the Thomas Cup (Team champinship) Asia qualifiers to be played later this month was a clear indication that their national team career was all but over.

While the three veterans deserved the standing ovation they recieved, the young brigade deserved the attention they got through out the 10 days of the championship. Verma was undoubtedly the star attraction having reached the final of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold event a few weeks earlier and he underlined his status as one of the toughest opponent in the circuit when he showed the mental strength to stave off H S Prannoy in the semifinals despite the Youth Olympics silver medallist holding two match points in the second game.

But more than Verma’s triumph what must have pleased National coach Pullela Gopi Chand is the fact that three of the four semifinalists in men’s singles were 21 years old or less and among the eight quarterfinalists, only Anand Pawar had played a final before.

The women’s section doesn’t boast of such a keen contest among the young brigade with Sindhu proving that she is head and shoulders about the rest of the pack. The 5 feet 11 inch shuttler was being touted as the queen-in-waiting for a couple of years now and she finally claimed her crown with clinical ease.

The title triumph also made Sindhu the first woman and only the second shuttler in the country - after Prakash Padukone - to hold the junior and senior national titles simultaneously. She has three more years in the junior circuit and that means that she should be around for another 10 years at least.

While the singles champions were expectedly the cynosure of all eyes, the eight-year reign of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar on the men’s doubles crown was brought to an end by K Tarun and Arun Vishnu with a performance that had all the qualities of a fighter determined to win a street brawl.

The duo kept charging back after every reversal by stepping up the pace and at the end forced the veterans into surrender as they had no gas left in the tank.

Call it a coincidence or just a stroke of luck that Saina Nehwal took the baton of women’s singles from Aparna Popat after the 2006 National championship at the same venue.

A tertiary glance at the winner’s list shows that a majority of them are in their first or second season in the senior circuit and should be the flag bearers of India’s international challenge for the foreseable future.

List of champions

Vikas Topiwala Challenge Cup (Men’s singles): Sourabh Verma Olympian Badminton Challenge Cup (Women’s singles): P V Sindhu Calcutta Badminton Cup (Men’s Doubles): Arun Vishnu and K Tarun All India Badminton Association Cup (Women’s doubles): Prajakta Sawant and Pradnya Gadre Burdwan Challenge Cup (Mixed Doubles): Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan