Two young girls took a quick sprint towards the vantage point at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Delhi. An Se Young, the World No. 1 women’s singles shuttler and one of the biggest names on the circuit, was about to pass through the replica of the India Gate, the entry point to the tunnel through which players enter and exit the court.
They reached just in time.
“All the best for tomorrow, An Se Young.”
They were thrilled. They had seen their idol from just a few feet away, and An had felt the love too.
She defeated World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi in an hour and a minute, her first match at the BWF World Championships that extended beyond an hour.
“We have come today. We will come tomorrow as well,” said Devasyaa Kadam and Adira Sinha, best friends who go to the same school in Gurugram.
“An Se Young Rules,” read one of the two banners they had handcrafted for their Saturday trip to the national capital.
“Yes, we are huge fans of An Se Young. There was extra motivation to cheer for her because Wang had beaten PV Sindhu yesterday,” Devasyaa said.
The Olympic champion has been the undisputed queen of badminton over the last few years, and it showed in the way fans in Delhi adored her. She had already won the India Open three times, including earlier this year, and is yet to lose a completed match in India.
But Saturday was different.
For perhaps the first time, An played in front of a hall packed to the rafters. It felt like a carnival, a crowd unlike anything badminton had seen in the country.
And An was moved.
After winning the last point of her semi-final, she turned towards the stands. She waved, bowed and acknowledged the chants of her name. Eventually, she ran towards one section of the crowd, removed her famous ‘Rambo’ bandana and flung it into the stands.
A couple of hours earlier, the main gallery had been brimming with people, energy and chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
It was not for PV Sindhu, the biggest name in Indian badminton at the moment. It was not for Lakshya “bhai superstar” Sen, who generally draws healthy crowds in Delhi.
It was for Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly.
The women’s doubles pair had won over the national capital during the week. When usual suspects Sindhu, Lakshya and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty failed to make it to the weekend, Gayatri and Treesa became the Indian pair keeping the home crowd invested in the first World Championships hosted by India in 17 years.
Ayush Shetty, who stunned World No. 1 Shi Yuqi on the opening day, and Unnati Hooda had provided flashes of brilliance. But only Gayatri and Treesa made it to the podium.
CROWD FAVOURITES GAYATRI AND TREESA
On Saturday, it felt unreal.
They had demolished seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi on Thursday. On Friday, they produced an even bigger upset, beating fourth seeds Jia Yifan and Zhang Shu Xian in a three-game battle.
Then came the World No. 1 pair of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.
The odds were against the Indians. Their coach B Sumeeth Reddy believed they could do it. So did the 8,000-odd fans who had filled the stands.
And for a while, it looked as if the crowd might will them through.
Gayatri and Treesa took the opening game 21-18, fighting back from 15-18. The six-point run that followed was probably the loudest stretch of badminton the country had seen.
You should have been there to hear the dhols after every point they won.
You should have been there to feel the silence when they lost one.
You should have been there when the crowd kept willing them on in the third game, even when Liu and Tan began to pull away and the result looked increasingly inevitable.
And you should have been there when the entire arena stood up to give Gayatri and Treesa a standing ovation. Treesa, who played like a woman possessed all week, left the arena carrying a poster made for her by one of her youngest fans. It will probably find a place of honour on the wall at her home.
EMBRACING HEROES
The crowd had not simply come for the biggest Indian names. Over the course of the week, it had begun to adopt players of its own.
Canada’s Victor Lai and France’s Alex Lanier became crowd favourites. Chou Tien Chen, 36 and taking on a new generation of shuttlers, was cheered throughout the week as he fought his way to a historic medal, becoming the oldest men’s singles medallist at the World Championships.
It was not just about nationality either.
The stands were filled with people who had travelled from across the country, across age groups and with varying levels of familiarity with the sport. Young fans arrived with handmade banners for their favourite players.
One of them might be on the other side of the stands, on the court, in a few years.
After all, Sindhu was once one of those children. She was among the many young fans who cheered for their idols when India last hosted the World Championships, in 2009 at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad.
“Hopefully, yes,” Adira said when asked if she wanted to become a professional badminton player.
That is how sporting fandom grows. One generation watches. The next one dreams.
The young fans were not the only ones making the trip.
Gumli, a civil engineering student from Arunachal Pradesh currently based in Chandigarh, travelled to Delhi for the World Championships on Saturday. He cheered for An Se Young, then stayed on for his favourite pair, World No. 1 Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae, who faced Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the men’s doubles semi-final.
“I was not able to be here during the India Open. I found the time, so I did not think twice before travelling to Delhi,” Gumli said.
He would have gone home disappointed after Aaron and Soh beat Kim and Seo. But he had still seen something he had wanted to see. That was the story of the week in Delhi.
DELHI SMASHES THE DOUBTS
Before the World Championships began, there had been doubts about whether the city could put on a show. The same venue had been criticised during the India Open over cleanliness, hygiene, bird droppings and monkey sightings. There had also been concerns over Delhi’s air quality.
By August, the course correction had been made. The venue was transformed, and the Badminton World Federation was happy with what it saw.
But there was another question: Would Delhi turn up for badminton?
Delhi had hosted major badminton events before, including the India Open at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall and the Thomas and Uber Cup at Siri Fort. Yet there were people within the badminton establishment who felt Bengaluru or Hyderabad might have been safer choices. The question was whether Delhi would turn up for the sport, or only for its biggest stars.
Delhi had something to say about that.
The city has often been dismissed when it comes to sporting atmospheres. Even in cricket, a sport that borders on religion in India, Chennai’s knowledgeable crowd and Mumbai’s theatre are spoken about with greater affection.
Delhi is different. It turns up for the party. It did so even during neutral matches at the 2023 World Cup. It did so at the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
But on Saturday at the IGI Stadium, it showed something more. Delhi was invested in the sport itself. An Se Young had her fans. So did Chou Tien Chen. Young players from Canada and France had found their own following. And Gayatri and Treesa? They had won over the entire arena.
“This has been the best crowd that probably any sporting event in India has seen outside of cricket competition.
“Over the years, the support of badminton fans has been overwhelming and the atmosphere we have witnessed this week gives us confidence to host many such major events in the future,” Sanjay Misra, General Secretary of the Badminton Association of India, told IndiaToday.in on Saturday.
The BAI has already bid for the 2028 Thomas and Uber Cup, the prestigious team championships known as the World Cup of badminton. Delhi is one of the possible host cities.
Perhaps that was the biggest takeaway from the World Championships. Delhi did not just turn up for its stars. It turned up for badminton. And, for one unforgettable week, the sport had the city to itself.
– Ends
