HANGZHOU: In the end, the flu almost derailed Indian badminton's best-laid plans of tasting gold for the first time ever. A few days ago, Chirag Shetty complained of a fever. That night, it worsened. It got so bad that Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had mentally prepared himself for a walkover before one of the earlier doubles rounds. There was some illness going around in the badminton camp and Shetty was feeling the after-effects of it on Saturday as well.
For the entirety of the final against South Korea, Mathias Boe was in constant communication with the 26-year-old. When asked what it was, the Mumbaikar said: "Basically he was telling me to keep moving and not stay still (because I still am not physically 100%). He was constantly asking me to keep moving. I was on a dosage till a few days ago but not on any tablets now. Even today, whenever the rallies got longer, I felt a bit breathless." Other members of the badminton contingent too felt the flu.
"There is a lot of behind-the-scenes you don't know," Rankireddy said. "He got the flu on the first day, he was sick. I thought the next day we were playing against the Indonesians, it would be a walkover or concede because he didn't sleep that night. He is not at all fit. I could sense that on the court, but he didn't show that to me. He always pushed himself, was not well, and was suffering from flu after the team event. Really kudos to him for the fight he had. I always tell him he is Rafael Nadal, he never gives up. I could see through this week, really happy with the way we played."
The most pleasing aspect about their week would have been the domination even if they were less than 100%. They lost only one game all week and that was to the Indonesian pair in the second round. What makes them so hard to play against is their understanding of the court, the way they troubleshoot on the go and how they are able to play both roles (attacking as well as defending). On Saturday, they showed how ever-evolving their game is.
To counter the slow nature of the court and the trueness of the shuttle (the ones that were used are more durable), they opted for a side-to-side formation rather than the more traditional front and back (the Koreans were playing front and back). If they had opted for a more front-and-back formation, they could have been exposed to gaps on the backcourt. Gopichand explained this aspect to the media after the match. He had also touched upon the enormity of this gold, India's first in this sport in the history of the Games.
"I think it's a huge win," he said. "For me, in some sense, Asian Games are tougher than the Olympics and these two have the capability to win medals in both those events. I'm very happy they peaked at the right time. To win a gold is a tremendous effort. The men's team winning silver and Prannoy's amazing run for the bronze and then this gold are exceptional achievements."
