Miranda Wilson came from a family of well-known musicians in Germany. She was surrounded by the piano, the oboe, the violin, and might well have spent her life playing concerts among instruments she loved. Instead, this past week, the 26-year-old was in Delhi with a different set of strings, treading a tougher road than the one her family had laid out, in something she loved even more than music: badminton. Her reason traces back to a literal blast from the past, former World No. 2 Julianne Schenk of Germany.

“Around 2013, Julianne completely disappeared from badminton. There was a controversy with the federation. I was still very young when she was preparing for the 2012 Olympics, and we were at a juniors camp at the same centre and were completely impressed with her discipline in preparation and fighting spirit on court. It’s how I chose badminton, looking up to her,” Wilson says, sending out an appeal for the former star to return.

In 2015, German media reported that Schenk had already retired, having forsaken her spot in main draws, or lost early on purpose, to fall out of the Top 10. She told Rheinische Post she couldn’t continue, and would become a trainer instead, study at university, and write a book. Turning up for events was mandatory for top players, or they faced a heavy fine. So Schenk simply began fading from the circuit while she decided what to do next, and nobody in badminton heard from her again. Then, one day, she went incognito from the national training base in Mülheim, cutting off contact with anyone from the sport.

“Her kitbag is still back there at the academy,” says Bernd-Volker Brahms, a photographer with Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, in Delhi for the Championships. The veteran badminton writer, who chronicled Schenk’s rise as an unlikely elite star in an unlikely sport for Germany, has tried tracking her down. “We were friends,” he says. But without success. “There had been a controversy with the German federation back in the day, over Julianne wanting her own coaching staff, which the federation refused to allow. She had been a pioneer in Germany, but now she has completely cut herself off. Even her family doesn’t know where she is,” he adds.

Schenk’s name has loomed large over this World Championships, with top European names, including Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, crediting the German trendsetter, who would be 44 now, for their own confidence jump-smashing in the women’s game. The last World Championships held in India, in 2009, had been a near-miss for Schenk, a bronze that slipped away when she lost 21-19 in the decider to Pi Hongyan.

But back when Hyderabad hosted that edition, and India’s own badminton resurgence was just beginning under Saina Nehwal, Schenk had been a formidable opponent. She was feisty, leapt high in the air, and thwacked down the shuttle like a hell-raiser in a metal band, scoring points with a power and explosive energy that was, then, unconventional.

The Chinese domination of that era still prized technical efficiency, balletic finesse and long fitness-driven rallies. Schenk, though, was in a hurry to break through the Asian amaze-maze that badminton tended to be. The Danes at least had a system in place. Germany, despite a thriving club and league structure, had never dreamt of elite ambitions until Schenk came along, promising to take on the Chinese. Not in success, but in fearlessness, she preceded even Carolina Marín. Officialdom eventually caught up with her, though, and drove her away from a sport she had once nearly ruled, while chasing the world No. 1 ranking.

The Club der Deutschen Meister (Club of German Champions) has been keen to induct Schenk into the German Hall of Fame, to celebrate her bronze at the 2011 London World Championships. Club president Helmut Ufermann told The Indian Express, “Julianne was an outstanding player. She has some great international achievements to her name. She would certainly be eligible for an honour in the Hall of Fame. However, currently, we have no contact with her, and despite a few attempts, we can’t reach her.”

The kitbag left behind at Mülheim, racquets still inside it, remains a painful reminder to the German badminton fraternity. “The way she just left them there in the practice hall was as if she said, ‘I’m finished with everything to do with badminton.’ She deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, because so many in Europe were inspired to work hard and aim high because of Julianne.”

Soon after being left in the lurch by the German federation, she reached the final of the Indonesia Open, after just one training session with the Indian Badminton League. She was presumed retired. But it has proven too quiet even for the German shuttlers and international stars who have tried, and failed, to reach her. So when Gilmour named her as an inspiration for the jump smash, and Wilson said she remained one too, the silhouette of Julianne Schenk rose again on the horizon. “Badminton misses her,” Brahms says.

Shivani Naik is a senior sports journalist and Assistant Editor at The Indian Express. She is widely... Read More