After Prakash, Gopi shows the light

After Prakash, Gopi shows the light

DECEMBER 24: Badminton, born in a Pune cantonment in 1860, left home early and seldom wrote home from its sojourns abroad in the twentieth century. However, laurels earned by Prakash Padukone, Nandu Natekar, Dinesh Khanna and the Late Syed Modi, are hands-on examples of laudable endeavours by stalwarts to repatriate the honours of this native Indian game.

Indian badminton, which has received world-wide acclaim for its masterly skill and feline strokeplay, has often succumbed before the `power play' developed by countries that employ brute strength as their weapon of conquest and domination.

An All England title, a world champion, Commonwealth gold medals, several Asian Games bronze medals, falling short by a whisker in the Thomas Cup zonals and a string of international titles feature in our bag of spoils gleaned from the international arena.

But, looking at the game, overall findings reveal that our male achievers have more to show, than the fragmented success of their fairer counterparts, most of whomwere queens in their own accord at home.

Like Mumtaz Lotwalla (nee Chinoy), Sunder Patwardhan (nee Deodhar) daughter of the Late DB Deodhar and Sushila Rege (nee Kapadia), were ``really good'' according to Nandu Natekar.

Later, in the 50's it was Lucknow's Meena Shah who ruled the National front with seven singles titles (1959-65). In the 70s the graceful Ami Ghia, who had her share of success which included a finals appearance in the first-ever Indian Masters at Pune after toppling Jane Webster (England), Kristen Larsen (Denmark) only to bow to China's Zheng Yuli eventually.

The 80's had the `never-say-die' Madhumita Bisht equal Meena Shah's record (1984-90), and also register five consecutive triple-crown wins between 1986-90. Madhumita's highs spanned a phenomenal 18-years, until two years back.

With superlatives confined to national boundaries, the women finally had a heroine in Aparna Popat. Aparna, shot into prominence, finishing runners-up in the World Juniors in Denmark. The following year,she won the French Open, and is presently parked at 31 on the world rankings.

The men indeed took the honours, with Nandu Natekar and Prakash signifying two eras of the game. While the former reigned in the 1950-1960 segment, Prakash's campaigns during the 1970-1980 virtually informed the world that the Indians were no pushovers. Worldwide recognition and the will to fight the odds were their forte, which is why this period remains the zenith of Indian badminton.

Natekar, once unofficially ranked No 4 in the world, was part of the Indian team that missed out on a berth at the famed Thomas Cup finals against the unbeatable Malaysians. In 1954, Natekar made headlines, of which one read: "Natekar v/s Finn Kobberro Best Match: Sir George Thomas" (in whose name the trophy is played), after the Indians lost their deciding rubber to Denmark.

Natekar and the fluid TN Seth were regular invitees for exhibition ties among the world's best. Winning the King's Cup of '63 in Thailand, Natekar left a lastingimpression when in subsequent years the King Of Thailand asked him to give his racquet to be placed in the Racquet Museum Club of Thailand.

Of course one cannot forget to mention the likes of Amritlal Dewan, Devendra Mohan, Suresh Goel as contemporaries in their own right.

Prakash did one better and inscribed his name in indelible ink among the badminton greats, eclipsing even Natekar's commendable achievements. In an era dominated by the Chinese, Indonesians, Danes and Malaysians, Prakash gave Indians new hope that artistry could best brute force.

With the Late Syed Modi, a protege of Suresh Goel, in company, India registered notable achievements. The two shared the National singles title seventeen times between them, Prakash taking honours here too with nine title.

During this period, a score of players emerged. They included Dipu Ghosh, Uday Pawar, Sanath Mishra, Vinod Kumar, Vimal Kumar, Partho Ganguli, Leroy D'Sa who were excellent doubles players, but folded up in crunch matches a fact that hasoften dogged India, leading to critical losses.

With a sketchy graph, Indian badminton went into hibernation, and worse came when the Badminton Association of India (BAI) the parent body in India, formed in 1934 - split over allegations of `autocratic functioning'. The splinter faction -- the Indian Badminton Confederation (IBC) - led by Prakash, comprised a majority of players, associations, leading to chaos in 1996, lasting 100 days.

The ouster of Fazil Ahmed saw the BAI and IBC burying the hatchet, and the game has been back on track since. The new, pro-player philosophy and systematic administration favouring development and achievements reaped rich harvests. This has increased India's chances of bringing home the laurels on a frequent basis, thanks to a more productive association, of which Pullella Gopi Chand, Nikhil Kanetkar, Abhinn Shyam Gupta and Sachin Ratti have been the major beneficiaries. With a fresh lease, brighter prospects and four Indians figuring among the top 100 in the world, Indianbadminton is racing from the penumbra to the light at the end of the tunnel, the first signs of which were seen with the medals at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and Gopi Chand's successes this year at the French, Toulouse and Scottish Opens and Sachin Ratti's win at the New Zealand Open.

TOMORROW: TENNIS