India, May 9 -- It was in the third game, and Tai Tzu Ying led 7-3. But PV Sindhu clawed her way back into the quarter-final match, eventually winning 12-21, 23-21, 21-19. A few days later in the tournament in Basel in 2019, she became the first Indian to win a World Badminton Championship gold.

Recently, Lakshya Sen scripted an impressive comeback. Down 13-7 in the second game, having lost the first, he fought back to edge out Chou Tien Chen 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 and set India on the path to securing a medal in the Thomas Cup in Denmark with a quarter-final win over Chinese Taipei.

Among many others, these matches will go down as famous triumphs in Indian badminton folklore. Come January 2027 though and such come-from-behind wins will be...