India is yet to register a win from the four singles matches they have played at the Sudirman Cup in Xiamen, China. But with wins in women’s doubles (against Denmark), mixed doubles (against Indonesia), both starring Tanisha Crasto, and serious potential shown in men’s doubles by Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi against Indonesia’s Top 10 pair, the state of Indian badminton is evident: a complete rout in singles, with problems running deep, and exciting unheralded times for doubles, where hopes can be pinned on.
The 4-1 drubbing by Indonesia, to send India out of quarterfinal contention, can be dissected in many ways, but will uniformly reveal that Indian singles has fallen off the elite perch.
PV Sindhu, who is struggling at World No 18, lost to Putri Kusuma Wardani, currently World No 11, with a 21-12, 21-13 scoreline. Her fortunes on a downward spiral, Sindhu’s game has simply not kept pace with all her coaching changes. No coach has managed to counter-balance her diminishing power game – inability to get the smash-kills, with changes in tactics. Random bursts of speed where she tries trapping any and every opponent on their backhand front court lunge, with drops, are an overused trick and unlikely to work against any Top 20 opponent.
A serious confidence crisis underpins Sindhu’s game – she’s tentative at the net, wrong-footed often, brittle in body defense and prone to smashing wide going for the lines. None of these, save the spraying smashes, are new discoveries for opponents. But for a long time now, Sindhu has been reluctant to play those two extra shots in a rally, and hurriedly tries to wrap up a point, even when the execution isn’t sharp enough. Her confidence has always hinged on endurance – but she’s perennially trying to accelerate while running on a forever-state of emergency fuel. The resultant creaky, croaking, cranky sudden stops, are not a pretty sight.
Against Wardani, Sindhu went from 6-14 to 11-14 in the opener, her only resistance. But it was 38 minutes of watching a giant crumble. It was decisive because India had gone 1-0 up after mixed doubles with Tanisha and Dhruv pulling off a near-perfect heist, defeating Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Gloria Emanuele Widjaja, 10-21, 21-18, 21-19.
The clouds came later, so this was no silver lining, technically. What Tanisha-Dhruv managed was a dazzling ray of hope, given how difficult Indonesians are in team events. When they lose, Tanisha’s aggressive game, a lot of yelling sound and accompanying fury, can seem overdone. But it is her energy and hustle on the court – mistakes inevitable – that literally pulled Dhruv out of his knotted shell.
India 🇮🇳 looks to unsettle Indonesia 🇮🇩 for a group D position.#SudirmanCupFinals #Xiamen2025 pic.twitter.com/LTKBIbZwv2
— BWF (@bwfmedia) April 29, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
When the opener was gone 21-10, not many would’ve given the Indians a chance. But Tanisha was relentless in trying and threatening ambushes, always scheming up angles that could evade the long-armed Widjaja.
Story continues below this ad
Not unlike Treesa Jolly or Gayatri Gopichand, Tanisha is armed with an attack, but can surprise with deft racquetwork which she uses for clever lifts and criss-cross scythes. Dhruv took his time, but once his defense settled down, he was bursting with ideas too. What India’s doubles pairings have been consistently good at this last year, is in staying adamant in long rallies, with shored-up defenses. Knowing they might need to play those two shots extra, and biding their time to construct rallies, setting up points, Tanisha-Dhruv stayed put.
Around the 15-point mark in the second set the Indians hit a higher gear and pushed a decider with increased intensity on the endgame. It was on 12-15 down in the decider that Tanisha once more cranked up the hustle. Getting to 14-15 will remain memorable. A long rally ensued, testing the Indian defense, and Tanisha was a spinning top on the court, with loud instructions to Dhruv, as it crossed the 30-shot mark. Tanisha then played the deftest of stop-drops, turning the racquet-face, completely boggling the Indonesians who had retreated to the back court waiting for the smash. It might be the stellar singular moment of redemption for India’s Sudirman Cup, as the Indonesians never recovered from that point.
Dhruv took over the steering with his cross-court short swats as he bounced around, placing winners, which meant India stomped to 5 straight points, going from 16-19 to 21-19.
The ability to finish is well and alive in doubles. It has vamoozed in singles. HS Prannoy, facing Jonatan Christie, did most things right, except finishing, in the 21-19, 14-21, 12-21 loss. He had the gameplan pat, and actually looked in good nick, fit and furious, nailing the back-bending smashes. But he faded off against an opponent who can sustain a fight deep and long.
Story continues below this ad
Lakshya Sen, in the coach’s bench, seemed to be struggling with a stiff back, but Prannoy playing Christie after 3 long years, where both have peaked and then dropped off, seems to have shrugged off all the various niggles and illnesses that tend to hold him back. He might have lost his 7th match to Christie, but he had done well to take this to 3 after losing in straight sets the last few times. The 32-year-old looked like he was building up nicely for the South East Asia swing that will follow. But as far as pulling the team out of trouble goes, his loss was yet another letdown by the singles players.
India lost the tie when Priya Konjengbam- Shruti Mishra lost 21-10, 21-9. But there was an unexpected surprise when Hariharan and Ruban – absolute rookies – went toe-to-toe with the Indonesians Daniel Marthin and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri; 17-17 in the first and 15-15 in the second set, pointed to immense potential as their flat game with buzzing speed gives India an excellent option. They went down 22-20, 21-18 but it was 50 minutes teeming with possibilities of a hopeful tomorrow for Indian badminton.
