The Chinese aura is diminishing.

For a formidable machine that churned out winners like clockwork and has had an incredible 72 champions, Shi Yuqi is the only one who will go into the upcoming badminton World championships looking to defend his title.

Shi’s win in Paris last year ended a 10-year barren streak, the previous winner being Chen Long in 2015.

Among the women, the drought has been much longer. Yihan Wang was the last Chinese to win the title way back in 2011. No wonder, most of the queries to the ones here revolved around the pressure of expectations.

“The players of China are very good and large in number. We don’t have pressure of performance as such; it is more about learning from each other and it benefits everyone,” World No. 9 Li Shifeng said on Saturday.

It’s a recurrent theme — the power of numbers, the insistence on lack of pressure and self-belief. But there is no denying the fact that the rest of the world has successfully ended the Chinese chokehold on the sport.

Consider this: China has three women in the top 10 but only two more in top 100. The men fare better, numerically; six in top 50 and eight in top 100.

Chen Yufei has come the closest to breaking the jinx, reaching the World championships finals in two of the last three editions but going down to Akane Yamaguchi both times, including last year. Her most recent outing, at the China Open, again ended in a straight games loss to Yamaguchi.

“I think it is more about ourselves, how we prepare. There is no pressure, only an expectation to do our best. You just need to have faith in yourself and not care about anything else. My biggest obstacle is myself and if I can conquer that, I believe I can win gold,” Yufei said about the missing title in her cabinet.

The red shirts on court are always intimidating. For now, though, the pressure is on them.

Badminton Association of India copped brickbats aplenty earlier this year after the Indian Open at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi was marred by monkey intrusions, bird-related disruptions, issues with ageing infrastructure, subpar spectator facilities, and the capital’s infamous pollution.

The venue, which was originally built for the 1982 Asian Games and later renovated for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will now open its doors again to the World championships, starting Monday, and organisers will hope to make headlines for the right reasons this time, ensuring that nothing but the sport takes centre stage.

The opportunity is doubly significant given India is set to host the next Commonwealth Games and the nation’s ambitious bid for the 2036 Olympics.

“Beyond the performance of our players, as an organiser, we want to show the world that we can host any tournament. They’re trying to bring badminton back to the Commonwealth Games, and we’re also looking at the Olympics. The government is supporting all our efforts, and I’d say this could be one of the best World championships ever,” BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra told The Hindu.

“The main problems at the Indian Open were the pigeons and monkeys. It was also very cold back then, but none of that is going to be an issue this time around.”

That pursuit has drawn some interesting ideas, including enlisting the services of trained langur-mimicry artists, whose videos have gone viral on social media.

“You can laugh at the solution, but you have to love the effort. Our solutions may be uniquely Indian, but so are our warmth, our spirit and our hospitality,” P.V. Sindhu posted on X.

New seating, fresh wooden flooring for the courts, a modern lighting system and a waterproofed roof are the improvements that have slipped under the radar in the meantime. Sanjay revealed that BAI is working with a budget of around ₹25 crore for the tournament, with the Sports Authority of India undertaking the renovation work thus far.

“What would success at this tournament for us look like? Very simple. If there are no complaints on all fronts, unlike the Indian Open,” he said, before adding, “Besides medals for our players!”