New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- Lakshya Sen was twice in a position to grab a medal in badminton at the Paris 2024 Olympics. In the semi-final, he lost to Viktor Axelsen after seeming in control of the match early on. A win would have taken him to the final and a guaranteed medal. In the match for a bronze, Sen led his opponent by a game before losing the next two.

Those defeats summed up 2024 for Indian badminton, as a year in which the country's premier badminton players appeared to have lost their lustre. There were no singles titles for any player-Sen has won only one title since the Olympics, the Syed Modi India International in December, and hasn't made it past any quarter-finals this year.

"He would have won more, but the competitive enviro...