Thomas Cup 2026: Lack Of Recognition Despite Bronze Medal Leaves Indian Shuttlers Disheartened

While there has been a loud call and efforts by the government to make India a sporting nation, we are still far away from being one. The recent mild recognition received by the Indian badminton contingent from the public after bagging a medal in the Thomas Cup twice in a row is a testament to the lack of interest of the national audience in sports other than Cricket.

India's triumph in the Thomas Cup 2022 was a landmark event in our nation's sporting history as we won our first-ever medal (that too gold) in the 29 editions of Badminton's World Cup. The win was celebrated by the entire nation wholeheartedly, and the team was also felicitated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, with a grand reception.

However, four years later, when India's men's contingent finished on the podium once again with a bronze medal, the response from the Indian public was lukewarm, which even got the players calling out the lack of recognition for their trade and how it could adversely affect the sporting future of the country.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who partners with Chirag Shetty and together form the World's No. 4 pair in men's doubles in badminton, took to social media to express his emotions after not seeing enough hype for their achievements at the Thomas Cup upon returning to India.

Satwik posted a story collaging two selfies of India's men's badminton team before and after the tournament with a caption “Back home now. As usual, no one knows what happened over the past two weeks, and it seems like no one really cares.”

Chirag also echoed the sentiment of his partner and said that the current attitude of the public gives him a feeling that we are not a sporting nation yet. “The general public, I feel, didn’t really know the magnitude of the (2022) result and that, sometimes, really makes me sad because I think we are not a sporting nation yet,” said Chirag in an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India on Tuesday.

While hailing the government for its efforts, he also calls on the ecosystem to celebrate our athletes' achievements more. “We win a lot of medals, but we don’t celebrate our athletes the way we should. There’s plenty more that we need to do. There’s only very little that the government can do which they are already doing. The schemes and everything else for the past 10 years since I’ve been playing professional badminton have been terrific. But I think the ecosystem needs to start celebrating sporting achievements.”

Uncelebrated Medals May Cost India Big in the Long Run

H.S. Prannoy, another ace Indian shuttler, points out the lack of awareness as another reason for the lack of recognition. He points out that most people don't even know that the Thomas Cup is the World Cup of badminton and what a medal in this competition means for a country.

“Unfortunately, the tournament’s name is Thomas Cup, which people don’t know is a World Cup,” said the 33-year-old.

He also cautioned that if this trend continues then in the future it could even get difficult to get the Thomas Cup back in India, as it gets difficult for sportsperson to motivate themselves if their efforts are not recognized.

“For me or probably the senior players, to convince the junior players that we need to get this done again for the country is very tough. So, if you are not celebrating a bronze medal, a silver or a gold, then I don’t think going forward, it would be easier to get these kinds of events. To get a Thomas Cup back to India is going to be really tough,” he added.