Now Reading: Men’s badminton enters new era after Axelsen retirement
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Men’s badminton enters new era after Axelsen retirement
The men's singles badminton circuit has entered a wide-open phase following Viktor Axelsen's retirement this year, with no clear favourite emerging at the ongoing World Championships. Defending champion Shi Yu Qi lost on the opening day, while fifth seed Christo Popov and both All England finalists, Lin Chun Yi and Lakshya Sen, were eliminated by Wednesday.
Denmark's Anders Antonsen described the competition as 'insane', saying he could name 20 players who could be the next world champion. Coach U Vimal Kumar noted the depth in the field, adding that consistency is lacking even among top players like Shi Yu Qi. The power game now dominates, with speed and attack becoming essential.
The men's singles has seen four different world champions in the last four editions: Loh Kean Yew (2021), Axelsen (2022), Kunlavut Vitidsarn (2023), and Shi (2025). A new generation, including India's Ayush Shetty and Canada's Victor Lai, is emerging. The World Championships may crown another new champion or continue the pattern of unpredictability.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Axelsen's retirement ends a decade of dominance by a small group of generational talents, Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Chen Long, and Axelsen himself, who together won every Olympic gold and most world titles since 2008. The current field lacks such a towering figure, creating a vacuum that no player has yet filled with sustained consistency. For India, this period of flux is a rare opportunity: with Lakshya Sen still recovering form and Ayush Shetty breaking through, a podium finish at the World Championships or next year's Asian Games is more attainable than it has been in years. The key question is whether any player can string together multiple tournament wins, not just one upset. Watch for Shetty's performance in the quarter-finals as a signal of whether India can produce its next world-beater.
Source: hindustantimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
