Indian badminton stars forced to self-fund European tour after support cuts

The Sports Authority of India withheld funds for four major European tournaments including the Arctic, Denmark, French, and Hylo Opens. Coach Vimal Kumar told champion athlete Lakshya Sen to accept the setback and fund his own trip to prove his worth after he missed a medal at the Asian Games. Sen's father also told him to accept the funding cut and keep playing. Shuttlers faced steep financial penalties if they withdrew from these events, as skipping the Hylo Open would have cost Sen a five thousand dollar fine to the Badminton World Federation.

The Cost of Competing

Training in badminton is expensive due to the high cost of shuttlecocks, which can reach fifty to sixty lakh per day at the Bengaluru academy. Centres from Chennai to Chandigarh have asked for subsidies on imported shuttles, but expenses keep rising. Upcoming players get limited funding for only six to eight tournaments. This slows their transition to the senior level by two seasons because development squads need more match practice to climb the rankings. At the same time, top athletes must rethink how they spend, as criticism has grown over large support staffs accompanying stars while other squad members share limited personnel.

Player Resilience

During the European swing, Tanvi Sharma traveled without a coach. Organizers had to choose between sending player Ashmita Chaliha or coach Park Tae-sang. Chaliha justified the backing by defeating Akane Yamaguchi at the French Open in Paris. Her Korea Masters title in August also came without government funding because her ranking did not qualify her for it. Badminton faced these funding cuts despite delivering strong results, such as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand winning a World Championships medal at home and a new wave of emerging contenders stepping up.

Context

Government sports funding in India is limited and must be split across many different disciplines. Strict ranking brackets often decide which athletes receive financial support, leaving players outside those cutoffs to bear their own costs. This creates tough choices for athletes who must balance high training and travel expenses to protect their global rankings and Olympic qualification chances.