I’ve always wanted to see a new country host the World Badminton Championships.  Of course, I always feel happy to go back to the usual badminton powerhouses, but when I heard that India got the bid to host this year’s edition, I was not surprised, but looking forward to it.

One reason was that India certainly deserves to host such a competition for the new talents it's produced lately, and their recent outstanding results.  Also, after all, this is where it all began, as hinted by the name poona, ancestor of badminton.  It was the right time for us to launch a Badzine India, but also, prepare the 4th Badzine Trip with fans from France who would travel to see the event, cheer for the French players, but also discover India after the competition, travelling in different cities to meet the people, see the wonders of architecture, the depth of the faith in the colourful gods of Hinduism.  But before that – I was to take part in that trip – we had to work and see who were to become the world’s best, two years after the last world championships in Kuala Lumpur.

Talking of Security and Swine Flu

My first impression, of course, was the chaos and the security people everywhere.  I arrived when England had already departed, and I must admit that I don’t have a set opinion on that.  If one doesn’t feel comfortable during a competition, it should be their choice to stay or go.  They will not get the ranking points, but maybe it didn’t matter.  It was their decision after all and I guess one must respect that. They did apologize afterwards so it’s difficult to say whether the players regret having flown off or not.  As for myself, if I must admit that, in some occasions, the security was uneven (sometimes, searching through our hidden pockets, and sometimes letting us go through the hotel gates with just a smile while the electronic portail was ringing… But I felt safe all through out the tournament, because I felt like we were not in any kind of jeopardy, at any time. Also, maybe because I tend to think that we all have our set date to go, written somewhere, so, there isn’t really any point in worrying too much – I guess I must be becoming Asian in that sense!  As for the Swine Flu, apart from seeing people moving away from me when I sneezed, I really couldn't care less.  To me, it's just like a regular seasonal Flu. And millions of people die everyday of AIDS or cancer. The Swine Flu still has a long way to go before earning the hype it has already been accorded, if you ask me.

Land of technology ? Yeah, right…

If security was no concern, the access to the outside world was. Clearly. I still don’t understand how such a competition can lack reliable Internet access for almost 3 full days (after a day without electricity), in the few stands reserved for the media in the hall.  Of course, we could use the media centre, which did provide access to the Web, but… in another building.  Needless to say, with the numerous security checks, going back and forth to send photographs urgently was just pointless and not an option.  The local photographers had their own wireless system, but for us, we couldn’t even go for that solution as we couldn’t even buy a local SIM Card because of security problems – one must have a postal address in India in order to get a local line.  Anyways, we survived, complained, and finally, the Internet was back for the last three days of the event – better than nothing, I suppose. I  was just stunned to hear some people talk about Hyderabad as the land of technology and the upcoming Indian Silicon Valley.  Maybe we were just unlucky this time. Just like later in our trip when we stayed in 4-star hotels, where, each time, the Internet wasn’t working either. Very frustrating. Very.

Lu, for a change, Lin, of course, and Pi, for a first

The competition itself was quite open, a year after the Olympics which had seen some top stars retire and some new ones on the rise already. Gone early was Wang Yihan, beaten by Juliane Schenk. The 19-year-old Chinese was expected to the successor to Zhu Lin, who had won in 2007, but she was sent packing by the German.  A sign that Europe is back to tickle the Asians? With 3 medals (against an empty basket in the Olympics), the old continent can be proud of its achievements, especially in the mixed doubles, where Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn played an amazing competition to win gold.  Hard work finally paid off for the two friends, whose uncommon partnership gave them their first major title. The Super Series finals title was nice, but since the Chinese hadn’t gone to Kota Kinabalu, this world title tastes a thousand times better to the Danes. And their compatriots Fischer-Nielsen and Pedersen weren’t far from making it a Danish-dominated final, even if they had to settle for bronze.  Lu Lan was probably not bet upon for the women’s singles title. She played wonderfully all week and deserves her win.  After the disillusion of missing out on bronze in her home yard at the Beijing Olympics, she got back at fate and won gold in Hyderabad.  I was really happy for her, the sweet Lu Lan, with whom I converse in a broken English from time to time on MSN.  Of course, my heart was beating even faster when my best friend on the tour, Pi Hongyan, was competing for a medal.  One year exactly after the quarter-final that she barely lost to Zhang Ning - the future winner of the greatest medal of all – Pi was back on track. And if she wasn’t at her best before the competition, coming back from an injury, she showed that she could find the resources at the right time, when she finally edged out Juliane Schenk 21-19 in the decider.  This time, too, I had tears in my eyes, just like after her match against Zhang Ning, but only this time, they were tears of joy as I knew how important this victory – and this bronze medal - was for my friend, who has sacrificed everything for badminton ever since she was 7 years old.  Together with the the French fans, we all had the chance to celebrate in a nice hotel in Hyderabad.

About Lin Dan… what can I say?  I was the one calling him Super Dan for the first time in the media, when he was yet unknown to the public, reaching the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships in 2000. I just knew that he would become one of the greatest shuttlers ever. He proved me right once again.  This badminton player is just amazing and, on his good days – always in important competitions – he is just unbeatable.  Good looking, strong personality, and amazing talent: he’s got it all. And a third world title, which he clearly deserves too. A hat trick for a magician of badminton

Finally, I must admit that I was disappointed for Korea, whose partnership of Lee Yong Dae and Jung Jae Sung were one point away from a first gold medal. But the Chinese Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng were mentally too strong and proved that they had bounced back in style after their silver medal in Beijing. And their final match was probably the best of all week for a fireworks of soft touch and fast play. Badminton at its best.

Spectators?

Being held in a badminton-loving country, I had expected some huge crowds. I was stunned by the prices of the tickets, which were clearly not meant for the middle class Indians. This may be why the stands were often half empty. There were some good crowds and noisy atmosphere – especially when the Indians were on court, but just two quarter-finals – Saina and the mixed doubles team of Diju and Gutta – were just not enough to make people fill the Bayagoli stadium.  Maybe it was also the fear of the Swine Flu, or the fuss around the security, or the fact that the stadium was quite far from the town of Hyderabad – 45 minutes by local tuktuk!  Or it could have been a mixture of all these reasons.  But I guess that the badminton competition in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi should draw more attention, with better timing.

Welcome Badzine India

These World Championships were also a great opportunity for the Badzine team to get together – or I should say the Badzine teams, as Badzine India, as all other regional channels, rely on their own staff, independent from the international version. So, I got to meet again with my long-time friend Dev Sukumar, but also with Gaurav Gupta, his new right hand.  Jan Lin had hopped in from Singapore for a short visit and helped them getting started with the new website, twitting her way around.

These World Championships were just finished and we were off with 15 fans, for the second part of the Badzine Trip...but this is worth a whole article on its own, as the French again really made the best out of this unique way of travelling.  As for myself, I will next be going to Japan, a land at the complete opposite of India…

Raphael Sachetat.

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