New Delhi: Players have come prepared for the BWF World Championships here at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Yet, there is still one thing they all struggle to adapt to – the conditions, the wind and the drift. And that challenge varies from one court to another. It is also not permanent – it changes with the crowd capacity.
Much like cricket’s pitch conditions change with humidity and sun, badminton court conditions vary depending on how many people are in the stands. More people in the stands means the air conditioning switches on and there is more wind.
But for players, the challenge does not end there. The four courts of the IG Indoor Stadium, where the matches are being held, have different air volumes, affecting the shuttle’s trajectory. And this drift, not yet as notorious as at the China Open 2026, is already resulting in matches being decided in three games. Even the best players have struggled against unfancied opponents.
Gripping battles
World No. 25 Nhat Nguyen took a game off Anders Antonsen, the men’s singles fourth seed, in a 102-minute thriller before the Dane prevailed in a Round of 16 clash at Court 2. Chen Yufei, the World No. 4 in women’s singles, had to dig deep into her experience as she battled through a three-game contest in her campaign opener against Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy, ranked 68th. After winning the first game 21-18, Chen was completely shaken in the second, with Happy winning 21-8. In the third game, Chen managed to recover from the opening-match blues, winning the decider 21-11. In men’s doubles, former champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik struggled against Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul before sailing into the Round of 16.
The drift, which by now has become a prominent discussion point, has seen the Indians adjusting on Court 1.
Lakshya Sen, nervous under pressure, struggled to recalibrate his game while playing on the slower side, unable to judge the length as the shuttle floated longer and dropped slower due to wind resistance on his side facing the crowds. This forced players to put in more effort to play the shuttle and use a smaller swing. But playing with the same rhythm from the other side – the faster half of the court – would mean the shuttle blowing away. It needs strategic rejigging.
While playing from the slower side, with the shuttle drifting away fast and the wind giving pace to its flight, awareness of the drift in the corners – where the effect of the wind is more – means there are greater chances of your crosses going wide. Hence, it is important to be smart in execution, and reading the court conditions is crucial even during the game.
At the elite level, where players cannot be easily separated by skill and standards, the court factor, and the strategy around it, play a pivotal role in a player’s chances of survival in a tournament.
Slower side challenge
After overcoming the Collins Valentine Filimon challenge in the opener, Lakshya eventually exited after losing to the more aggressive and wiser execution of Garrett Tan of the US in the second round. The third game was key, and Lakshya lost it there, playing against the drift. Tan utilised the court’s drift intelligently, targeting the deep rear corners with heavy smashes to force Lakshya into a defensive catch-up game, winning the match 19-21, 21-19, 21-17.
But players have trained for it and warmed up on the same court where they are playing now. The problem is that they did so without the crowd’s presence. The crowd factor not only energises the environment but also changes the game complexion by making the wind factor a stronger element.
Drift is not always the same. It changes, accelerating and decelerating with changes in temperature and humidity. The need to switch on the air conditioning also depends on humidity, which is high at this time of year, making the air feel heavy outside. But inside the arena, heavy use of AC, a first at the venue since the India Open, the country’s premier World Tour event, is held in the freezing winter, is taking the humidity out, with the shuttle flying through lighter air.
Shuttlers like Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, a top player who beat Chi Yu Jen 21-12, 7-21, 21-16 in the first round, pointed out exactly that the side opposite the crowds acts as a “fast side,” causing the shuttlecock to travel much faster and altering game plans depending on which end a player is facing.
“The side opposite the audience was the fast one. On the other hand, the shuttle was not travelling for me, and that is why I lost the second game 7-21,” Naraoka said.
Kristy Gilmour of Scotland, who lost to China’s Han Yue in the first round after putting up a strong fight, pointed to the crowd factor as a key element affecting the drift. “Quite tricky to be honest. The drift in the front and back court was not as much when we were training. It was still quite pleasant, but the side drift lost me a lot of points,” she said in the mixed zone.
But adapting to court conditions has always been a factor in badminton. Nothing new.
The faster you read the conditions, the better your chance. At the Delhi Worlds, even some of the best players struggled in New Delhi, suffering shock defeats. France’s Christo Popov, one of the most improved players on the circuit and World Tour Finals winner in December, made a first-round exit, losing to Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. And on Wednesday, Lakshya, the home favourite and one of the seeded players, became a victim of failing to assess the shuttle length.
Mastering the drift
Most Indian players have now played on Court 1, where the drift on the side where the crowd is sitting in the upper stand is more, while the other side offers less.
But that again varies depending on the time they play as well. Before Lakshya’s match on Tuesday, PV Sindhu, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Ayush Shetty – who all played on the opening day on Monday – played on the same court, but more crowd had filled the venue to see their stars play.
While Sindhu and Treesa-Gayatri were hardly bothered by the drift factor, Ayush initially struggled against Shi Yuqi when he changed sides after winning the opening game. But his strategy of playing from the faster side was very detailed. Playing high drops, which many a time Shi assessed wrong and saw the shuttle fall before him, Ayush also used slices and backhand net flicks with a wristy punch, and commanding the net showed his strategic prudence.
Playing from the faster side, Shi gave it back to Ayush, who struggled to assess the floaty shuttle’s trajectory, and Shi kept it low for him, going for low down-the-line smashes.
But to win, you need to master the drift.
In the third game, when the mid-game side change happened with Ayush leading 11-5, he did show his smartness in handling the drift, controlling the net and not allowing the shuttle to be affected by the drift, playing early using his long lever. Yet, Shi managed to claw back by going for the corners and keeping things low, which meant a tall Ayush found it difficult to bend and retrieve.
With Shi winning 10 of 11 points after the break, the drift factor became clear and evident. Ayush, however, did not let the drift blow him out of the tournament. He bemused a seasoned pro like Shi, the defending champion and World No. 1, with a wristy backhand flick from the front court. Shi misjudged its trajectory like a goalkeeper does in a penalty, falling on the side the ball does not go, and exited the tournament.
“A player who handles the drift situation better wins. But here it is not very bad if you actually see. There is a little bit of sideways drift, which is slightly more than the front-back drift,” Sagar Chopda, Ayush’s coach, told Sports Now after that match.
But the adaptation remains a factor. And overseas players continue to adapt, but they refuse to call it a challenge, as drift is their perennial companion wherever they travel, more so in Asia.
Most recently, the China Open, the World Tour’s final Super 1000 category event in 2026, saw players failing to score while playing from the slower side, showing the impact the air causes to the shuttle.
“The wind blows it very strongly. But honestly, I’ve kind of gotten used to it in a lot of places like this: China, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, too; a lot of these Asian countries have this sort of drift. I won’t say like I’m perfect, but I’m getting used to it”, Victor Lai of Canada said, who played on both Court 1 as well as Court 4 in his last two matches.
Before his pre-quarterfinals clash against former world champion Loh Kean Yew, he grew more comfortable with the conditions.
“I feel pretty good. Getting used to the court, it was court 4. It took some adjusting. The wind was different from Court 1 yesterday. So, I will see where I play tomorrow, and hopefully I can adapt,” he said, keeping his fingers crossed.
Challenges ahead
With the tournament heading to the Round of 16 on Thursday, it has become clear now: the players who control Delhi’s Drift will have the better chances of winning.
The day is set to see two of the most evenly placed contests on Court 1, where the drift’s impact is the most.
Ayush faces Indonesian peer and world junior champion Alwi Farhan in what promises to be an intriguing contest.
Sindhu, who won her previous two matches in straight games, will face her real test against Wang Zhi Yi, an opponent she beat in last year’s Worlds, on Court 1. With the Chinese third seed determined to end their women’s singles title drought since 2011, it will be seen how Sindhu tackles the drift factor on Thursday.