Badminton’s new scoring rules, in fact, make it that much easier for a match to be taken away. After Athens, a rallying point scoring system was introduced in which a point is won or lost on each serve. Earlier, points were scored only by the server and if the server lost the point, the serve would shift to the opponent, without a change in the scoreline. Now also factor in the fact that the shuttle travels at speeds faster than in any other net sport at the Games. Nehwal and Yulianti were the only unseeded players in the last eight, and Yualianti will now take on China’s Zhang Ning, the defending title-holder. (The top three seeds in the women’s draw are all Chinese.)

With the Olympics coincides India’s four-yearly conversation with sport. It’s not just an Indian habit. It’s when most everybody takes stock. After every match walk through the mixed zone — the area where reporting media talk to athletes as they leave the venue — and the questions come more from informed curiosity than expertise. (Today, for instance, at the Water Cube a reporter asks a diver why he stands under the shower after each dive. To clear his mind.)

Away from the waiting India media, Nehwal is asked about the popularity of badminton in India. “Everyone enjoys playing this game,” she answers. “But it is not too popular.”

She could also have told them that for the serious player, it is lonely. The big match experience is mostly never gathered as a team. Yulianti may be unseeded here, but she has twice been part of a second-seeded team at the Uber Cup. From the sidelines she can soak in experience.

... contd.