With injuries capable of thwarting even the most talented strokemakers in men’s singles badminton from achieving meteoric rises into the Top 20s, India will look for power-packed physicality to deliver the goods in 2026. Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George (who’s made finals at Odisha), will continue to let their court-craft and tactical finesse do the talking. Sen can realistically target the All Englands and Asian Games as his game acquires a roundedness that can navigate injury management effectively. But don’t be surprised if those making waves in the next season are the likes ofAyush Shetty, Sathish Karunakaran, Tharun Mannepalli, Sanskar Saraswat and Rounak Chouhan – though the last mentioned from Chhattisgarh has a long way to go. But it is the honed physicality and commitment to play that booming game, like PV Sindhu was once unabashedly known for, that makes these names capable of suddenly popping up and winning unexpectedly. Power has very few ripostes. The unreturnable smash can gloss over deficiencies in other aspects of play, it can spare them those 5 extra …