Kashyap leads India's resurgence in men's singles

There was a time when India was a force to reckon with in men's singles in badminton. It was a time when Prakash Padukone and Syed Modi, the stalwarts who put India in the badminton map, used to play.

But I unfortunately don't belong to a generation that was fortunate to see Padukone or Modi play. Padukone won the Commonwealth Games gold in 1978, becoming the first Indian to do so. He won the All England in 1980, a year before my birth and by the time I was 10 years old, he had already bade good bye to the game.

Even Modi, the last men shuttler to win a gold in the CWG, achieved the feat in Brisbane in 1982, a year after my entry to the world.

Ofcourse, there was Pullela Gopichand making inroads in World badminton but I admit I was not aware of his exploits till I joined the journalism field. Blame it on my poor GK or lack of inclination to read newspapers. TV was not an option then as it is only recently that TV has started reporting the achievements of any sport beside cricket.

But after Gopichand, there has been a lull. It is not that we don't have talented shuttlers. We have a pool of them, we have around 10-15 players in the top 100. Shuttlers such as Anup Sridhar, Arvind Bhatt and Chetan Anand have defeated many top players and made their presence felt in the world. But still in CWG 2010 we didn't have a serious contender for the gold.

And so when P Kashyap scripted some sizzling performance beating higher-ranked Rajiv Ouseph of England twice (yes, I still consider the semifinal a win for Kashyap coz it was a clear wrong decision that spoilt his silver) and the stylish Mohammad Hafiz of Malaysia, he had just given that hope to Indians that perhaps the resurgence of men's singles is round the corner.

Kashyap had to settle for a bronze where he deserved a silver atleast. If he were in final with Lee Chong Wei, he nevertheless would have competitive if not more. When Kashyap played him in the team event he looked much more at ease than Ouseph (who played him in the finals of individual event).

In the Denmark open, Kashyap again created a stunning victory over Thai Boonsak Ponsana, who has victories against Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Chen Jin and Peter Gade to his name.

The Indian may have lost in the quarter against a chinese but that doesn't demean his stunning victory in any way. It means only one thing, time for India to regain its pride and place in men's singles is very near. The dawn is near, the resurgence nearer and we wish Kashyap shines in the days to come.

"Shine like a crazy diamond" as Pink Floyd would have put it.