In August 2005, a Bollywood movie on the struggle of a deaf and mute boy, played by Shreyas Talpade, to make a career in cricket was released. But eight months earlier, Rajeev Bagga, a badminton player with the same disability, had created history by becoming the first Deaflympian to win 14 gold and four silver medals in the badminton event at the Deaflympics.
There, however, is a lot more to Bagga than just his achievements in the Deaf Games.
He was brought up in Army cantonment areas and had a natural penchant for sports and boasted of excellent hand-eye co-ordination. As a child, he played multiple games and even won the Sub-junior national squash title and the Maharashtra state U-15 tennis crown before deciding that badminton was going to be his calling.
One of the reasons that Bagga opted for badminton despite being exceptionally good at squash and tennis was because his hearing impairment would affect his ability on certain occasions. In squash, when the ball was played from behind him on the wall, he could not judge the direction without looking back and that could be dangerous in the sport. Even in tennis, players depend on the sound of the ball hitting the opponent’s racquet to judge whether it is hit flat or with a spin since the court is bigger and it’s not easy to watch the kind of shot that is played.
In contrast, Bagga felt that the smaller badminton court gave him the opportunity to read the opponent better and hence shifted to the indoor courts.
When he started playing badminton, there was no special category for deaf and mute players and he soon became a regular feature in the state junior team. It was a time when badminton tournaments had no scoreboards and he even had to keep counting the scores in his mind as he could not hear what was being said.
But that lack of communication hardly deterred him as he excelled both in singles and doubles events at the national and international level. And the squash training meant that he had one of the best backhand drives in Indian badminton.
Having made his mark in the junior level, Bagga announced his arrival in the senior category when he defeated the legendary Prakash Padukone in the 1987 senior nationals in three games and this victory gave him the confidence that he can one day become the senior national champion in the “hearing” category, as he would call the regular events.
In the next decade and half, Bagga went on to win two senior national singles crowns in 1991 and 1992, the men’s doubles title with Vinod Kumar in 1997, became the first deaf player to qualify for the All England main draw in 1990 and represented India in the Thomas Cup qualifiers, Asian championships, the 1990 Commonwealth Games and reached the best world ranking of 38.
And had it not been for the politics and ego of Badminton Association of India officials, he could have also played in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Former national champion Sanjay Sharma, who also coached Bagga, wrote in the book, Courage beyond Compare, that the Deaf Sports Association had requested the International Olympics Committee to give him the wild card as the 1989 Deaflympics champion.
However, when the IOC sent the request to BAI for endorsement through the Indian Olympics Association, president Fazil Ahmed refused to sign the letter stating that Bagga should have approached him first before the letter was sent by DSA.
The next year, BAI and Bagga had another run in when he was tipped to lead the Indian contingent for the World Cup in New Delhi. However, the World Deaf Games were to be held a fortnight before the tournament and he sought permission to participate in the Games and join the camp later and he was willing to participate in a trial if needed. The federation refused his permission and dropped him from the squad for missing the camp.
Bagga moved to England in 2002 as his wife was a British citizen. He, however, represented India in the 2005 Games and won three gold medals but felt disillusioned as he was made to pay for his travel expenses for the Games. He then applied for British citizenship and won a singles silver medal in men’s singles for them in the 2009 Games at the age of 40.
The biggest honour for Bagga was conferred by the International Deaflympic Committee when they named him the Deaflympian of the Century in 2001. He continues to represent the United Kingdom in the senior category and even represented them in an international beach volleyball competition in the senior age-group category.
During an interview with Rediff.com, soon after winning the honour, Bagga gave insight into his thought process. “During a television interview at Malmo in Sweden, where I had gone to take part in the Swedish Open, I was asked, ‘Why do you play with hearing persons?’ I replied, ‘I am a sportsman and will play with any sportsperson, may he or she be hearing or not.’”
Indeed, for Bagga, sound was never a barrier.