Another All England Championship has come and gone and India's wait for another title at the oldest badminton tournament continues.
2024 had seemed a good chance to end the drought: especially with men's doubles top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in red-hot form. However, they went out in the second round, as did PV Sindhu. Lakshya Sen, who reached the semifinals after a couple of stunning wins, was the last Indian standing while fellow men's singles players all lost in the first round.
Here's a look at the takeaways for Indian badminton from 2024 All England, and what it means for the season ahead with the end of Paris Olympics qualifications on the horizon:
Lakshya Sen rises again
This All England marked a full circle, or rather, a triangle for Lakshya.
Two years after his breakthrough, reaching the final of the 2022 edition, and two months after his lowest point on tour after seven straight first-round exits, Lakshya appears to have found his mojo back with two back-to-back semifinals.
In Birmingham, he did a full 2022 throwback, beating world No 3 Anders Antonsen and 2021 champion Lee Zii Jia in tough three-game battles that brought out the best of his game - quick-footed and counterpunching, with the much-needed added element of composure.
That he went down to Jonatan Christie in the semis may seem like a missed opportunity in an open field, but the 22-year-old has accomplished the much tougher task of overturning a mental slump. A deep run at a prestigious Super 1000 where the best players in the world struggled validates what his childhood coaches Vimal Kumar has been saying - physically his game was all there, it was a matter of confidence.
The best part of this run is that the bounce was back in his step - he played a clean game with very good body language, something that had deserted him during his low period.
This would have been the shot in the arm he needed, both for his game and his place in the race to Paris Olympics. Currently 15th in the BWF Race to Paris rankings, he needs to remain in the top 16 to qualify.
Satwik-Chirag and men's doubles minefield
The biggest upset from an Indian perspective was Satwik and Chirag losing in the second round in straight games.
Muhammad Fikri and Bagas Maulana beat them 16-21, 15-21 to end their 5-match winning streak as well as their four-final run, playing a tactically smart game from the front court to outfox them.
It wasn't a terrible result, though. They may have been the top seeds, but they lost to the 2022 All England champions, who then lost in the next round to the former world champions Soh-Chia. Meanwhile, the reigning world champions Seo-Kang lost in the first round and the second seeds Liang-Wang were also knocked out in the second round, by the reigning Olympic champions Lee-Wang.
Simply put - this situation is reflective of the current men's doubles landscape, which has become increasingly competitive in the last couple of years and any pair can beat the other on their day. This in turn automatically makes player performance look more erratic that it is.
Right now, there is not much to read into Satwik-Chirag's All England run except that they missed a major goal of 2024 - to reach the final of the Super 1000 they never have before. However, nothing motivates Satiwk-Chirag more than losses and this can add fuel to their fire in an important season.
Sindhu has positives to count
On paper, Sindhu had one walkover and lost the next match in Birmingham. On court, though, the second-round loss (19-21, 11-21) to world No 1 An Se Young is more than just an early exit.
Yes, this was her seventh straight loss to the South Korean but it's a loss to take some heart from. Like in her loss to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei at the French Open, Sindhu showed glimpses of her vintage self. She was quick on her feet, tactically more aware and played some brilliant shots to fight back and put herself in a good position against a tough opponent.
This is more than she was able to throughout 2023, when she was coming back from a five-month injury layoff.
Her comeback from the latest fourth-month injury layoff in February has started much better. Building up to the Paris Olympics, Sindhu raising hopes of returning to her pre-2022 surgery phase is one of the best takeaways for Indian badminton.
What do we make of Prannoy's blip?
HS Prannoy, who had the best year of his career in 2023, has been the only seeded Indian in singles for a while now by virtue of his consistency. In fact, he has already mathematically qualified for the Paris Olympics - his first ever - because of his steady run.
However, the world no 8 has now lost three straight first-round matches on the BWF Tour, the last two to unheralded players. He reached the semifinal of the India Open Super 750 in January and won only one of three matches at the Badminton Asia Team Championship in February.
It is too early to state if this a cause for concern and he himself must be disappointed with his loss -- having shared that his father has travelled to watch him at All England for the first time. He has not entered the next to BWF Super 300 events in Europe either, likely in an attempt at managing his fitness.
Prannoy's form, though, is something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
The all-Indian women's doubles battle
In women's doubles, there is an interesting battle brewing between Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand - who were the India No 1 pair for a long time before injury concerns pulled them behind in 2023 - and Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, a newer pair who climbed up the ranks with a good end to 2023 - for the Paris Olympics qualification spot. This adds another layer to all their BWF World Tour performances.
Currently, they are neck-to-neck at world No 22 and 23 in the world respectively but Tanisha-Ashwini are a little ahead at 11 to the other's 14 in the Olympics race. The top 16 spots usually qualify for the Olympics.
At All England, Treesa and Gayatri lost in the first round, ending their streak of two straight semifinals, which will affect their points. Ashwini and Tanisha, meanwhile, beat a higher ranked pair and reached the second round of the Super 1000, which will give them a big boost.
The cut-off is at the end of April, and this adds more intrigue to the Indian results in women's doubles.