Olympics-Badminton-India’s Shetty says sport needs more corporate support

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PARIS (Reuters) -In a country known internationally for its obsession with cricket, badminton has been fighting tooth-and-nail for its share of the limelight in India.

From Saina Nehwal, who made history at the London 2012 Games when she bagged a bronze, to two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, shuttlers have in recent years smashed their way to global recognition. Doing so has attracted both international and domestic sponsors like Visa, Bridgestone, Gatorade and Bank of Baroda.

More recently, world number five men’s doubles team Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have been making waves, and could be India’s shot at a badminton podium in Paris.

Despite becoming household names with their successes – including those of others like men’s singles number 24 Lakshya Sen – badminton is not as popular as cricket and therefore comparatively underinvested in.

“(Badminton) needs to be promoted as good as cricket,” Shetty said on Saturday in Paris after winning 21-17 21-14 against France’s Ronan Labar and Lucas Corvée in Paris.

“I think we’ve had the performances as well to back it up, but cricket has done that for the past 30-odd years — for us to be on the same level it will take some time.”

“Corporate houses need to step up and support sports other than cricket in India,” he said.

“But I can’t say that it’s not being done. It’s definitely improving, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Cricket fans in India account for more than 80% of the sport’s following globally, and the game is financially lucrative there. The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s earnings for the year ended March 2022 dwarfed those of other cricketing countries at $103.4 million.

The country’s badminton players think it is time the government did more to support other sports, too.

“The Indian government should identify disciplines like badminton, table tennis, athletics, hockey et cetera, where we are doing well internationally,” former badminton player and Indian men’s team coach, U Vimal Kumar, said.

“Identify about 8-10 disciplines and provide tax concessions for the next 10 to 15 years to the corporates who genuinely invest in sports,” he added, saying tax benefits should go towards support including infrastructure building, event sponsorship and training.