Asian Games will be tough, but we know how to prepare for it: Chirag

The Indian Thomas Cup team returned home late on Monday night with bronze, its second medal at the prestigious event in the last three editions. By finishing joint third in Denmark, India became one of only seven countries to clinch more than one medal.

While the players acknowledged the support received over years, they rued that the general public was largely unaware of the importance of the achievement at what is dubbed the World Cup of badminton. On Saturday, India went down to France in the semifinals, adding to the maiden title it bagged in 2022.

“I think it didn’t get celebrated by the fans the way it should have been. People who know about the sport knew how big the tournament was, but the general public, I feel, didn’t really know the magnitude of the result.

“We are not a sporting nation as yet, we don’t celebrate our athletes the way we should. There is plenty more we need to do. There is only a little that the government can do, the ecosystem needs to start celebrating sport,” Chirag Shetty said during an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India on Tuesday.

On his part, H.S. Prannoy said: “When there is not enough recognition, it is tough for players to be convinced every time because they question the value of doing this… trying to build a team in a sport where we play individually 99% of the time. It is also tough for the seniors to convince the juniors that we need to get this done for the country.”

With the Asian Games scheduled later this year, Chirag is keen to build on the momentum. “The team has been preparing really well. The Asian Games was good last time, and we want to do something similar this time around as well. It will be difficult, but we all know how to prepare for such events,” he insisted.

Prannoy admitted that Lakshya Sen’s injury was a big blow for the team in the Thomas Cup semifinal clash.

“Lakshya not being there definitely made a big difference because rankings eventually matter. He pulled off such a huge win against Chou Tien-Chen (Taiwan) a day before and he was gaining confidence.

“I believe he would have beaten Christo Popov; that would have been a big positive and it could have given us a chance to play the fourth and fifth matches. We would have definitely been stronger as a team if the tie had gone past the third match.”

Lakshya is scheduled to play the Thailand Open next week but he was still waiting for his reports and doctor’s advice.