Bane of the game

Badminton suffers from being a sport that “everyone can play”.

No one is giving an arm and a leg yet to make badminton more saleable, but a sleeve has been sacrificed. The game’s poster boy, Raufik Hidayat, wore a one-sleeved theme jersey at the Badminton Asia Championship in New Delhi last month. With that, the game made a rare nod to couture. So far, players — men and women alike — have given priority to functionality over fashion. Both wear shorts, and men continue to carry collars.

The one-sleeve jersey (honestly, it looks odd) made its debut last year at the Japan Open Super Series. It gained attention when Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei and Denmark’s Peter Gade sported it at the All England. Hidayat brought it into the limelight. The argument is that the uncovered shoulder and arm move better. The other arm, sleeved, can be used to wipe sweat. The real idea maybe to bring a touch of Rafael Nadal — his biceps never hidden under sleeves — to badminton.

And why not! Badminton has forever been battling to get the same respect, and sponsorship money, as tennis. Frequently, statistics are dished out — for example, the shuttle speed in a professional badminton match is faster than the speed of the ball in professional tennis — to establish that badminton is more physically demanding.

Here is a bit of what www.worldbadminton.com has to say. At the 1985 Wimbledon, Boris Becker defeated Kevin Curren 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. The same year, Han Jian of China defeated Morten Frost of Denmark 14-18, 15-10, 15-8 at the World Badminton Championships in Calgary, Canada. The first lasted 3 hours and 18 minutes, the second an hour and 16 minutes. Yet, the tennis ball was in play for 18 minutes and the badminton shuttle for 37 minutes. The match intensity (the actual time the ball/shuttle was in flight, divided by the length of the match) was 9 per cent for the tennis match and 48 per cent for badminton. The number of shots Becker and Curren made, at 1,004, was just more than half the shots made by Han and Frost (1,972). The distance covered was two miles by the first pair, four by the second.

However, statistics would win you debates, not sponsors. Badminton is extremely popular in India. Everyone plays it, or thinks he can. Every housing society in and around Delhi has a badminton court. Every picnic involves a game by the grandparents. Even middle-aged housewives do not mind tucking their pallus into the girth on their waist to have a round of badminton. There is a ‘formidable champion’ in every colony. That perhaps is the bane of this game. It is seen as a backyard romp. Tennis, on the other hand, is perceived to be much bigger in scale and challenges. It requires you to cover a much bigger court, the racquet is bigger, and it is much more difficult to keep a tennis ball in play than a badminton shuttle. And, of course, short skirts get more viewership than shorts.

(suveen.sinha@bsmail.in)