Why menstrual health remains a blind spot in Indian badminton — A deep dive

Athlete welfare: Tanisha Crasto in action. For the Indian international, managing menstrual health remains part of the wider challenge of training and competing at the elite level, where awareness and support systems are still evolving. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

A 15-year-old budding shuttler at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad once broke down in tears mid-practice. When her coach, Hersen Sebastian, approached her to understand what had happened, she was reluctant to speak.

“She was not able to tell me what happened, so I sent other senior girls to find out what was going on. I later learned that she had gotten her period and didn’t have pads on her and so was confused about what to do.”

The incident reflects a wider communication gap explored in a recent study by the Simply Sport Foundation (SSF), titled ‘Menstrual cycle perspectives in elite Indian female badminton athletes and coaches’. The study found that four out of eight athletes in the sample had never attended an educational workshop or awareness session on menstrual health.

Funded by the Badminton World Federation, the exploratory study involved eight professional Indian female badminton players and six coaches to examine awareness of menstrual health and period management.

The players were identified through the network of coaches with whom SSF was in contact. They had to be between 16 and 35 years old, compete at school, college or national level, and have been actively training in singles for a minimum of two years.

Throughout the research, reluctance to discuss menstruation emerged as a recurring theme, according to lead researcher Tanugatri Majumder. She explained, “Since this is a very sensitive topic, I wondered how to break that topic to them (players and coaches) initially and put it in a proper format to keep it ethical to safeguard their information for such topics which are not commonly discussed.”

The menstrual cycle comprises hormonal, ovarian and endometrial changes that occur from the first day of one menstrual period to the first day of the next, lasting approximately 28 days. It can involve symptoms such as stomach cramps, backache and a drop in energy levels. For an athlete, these symptoms come alongside the demands of training and competition, the risk of further complications arising from the intensity of the sport, and a persistent lack of awareness.

For international badminton doubles player Tanisha Crasto, the struggles extend beyond the five-day window. “More than the menstrual week, it’s the premenstrual week for me where I have really bad back pain and cramps and the urge of eating sugary foods,” she tells Sportstar.

This contrasts with how badminton coaches, many of them male, often view the monthly cycle. While the fact that menstruation lasts four to seven days is fairly well known, the hormonal phases that unfold across the month, including the follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase, are less understood. As Dr. Sneha T Sambandam, Sports & Exercise Medicine Specialist, explains, these phases can bring premenstrual or post-menstrual symptoms of varying intensities.

The problem is compounded by myths and a degree of ‘fearmongering’, as some physiotherapists describe it, about how a woman’s body and mind function during menstruation.

“At least when we are bleeding, there’s something we can say like “it’s the time of the month and we really need a break”, but what reason can you give when PMSing? (Premenstrual Syndrome),” Tanisha adds, expanding on the blind spot.

“The menstrual cycle is different from a period, right? The menstrual cycle is what is happening 365 days, and a period is what is happening for five days,” Aditi Mutatkar, former international badminton player and now Head of Athlete and Women Initiatives at Simply Sport Foundation, corroborates.

“Even at the elite level, what we have found with the study is that the understanding is more around the bleeding phase,” Aditi says.

Aditi, whose career has allowed her to witness the evolution of menstruation awareness, acknowledges that conversations have become more open, while maintaining that the subject remains very much an afterthought.

During her time as an athlete, players would approach coaches with statements such as “I’ll do less sit-ups today” or “My stomach is hurting”, the telltale signs of a player’s period.

“I actually started doing more sit-ups because I didn’t want my coach or my fellow players, who were my competitors and practice partners, to believe that I was weak and I would give up. So it’s a very complicated thing to differentiate between a person and an athlete and deal with the female physiology,” she remembers.

This reluctance persists, particularly among junior players. Sebastian, who has been coaching for a decade now, still has to navigate the hesitation of athletes who struggle to explain what they are experiencing around their periods.

“Sometimes we ask players if it’s stomach pain or if the pain is because of your periods. Only then do they realise, ‘Oh yeah, the coach knows’. After that they’re more open to saying “Yes sir, I have periods, it’s my first day or second day,’” he says, explaining how he has tried to bridge the communication gap.

At the elite level, there are signs of progress, particularly in the awareness and support athletes offer one another. Tanisha explains that during tournaments, female players often help one another in emergencies, calling it a ‘sisterhood ’. This marks a stark contrast with Aditi’s time, when she and many others worried about appearing weak while menstruating.

Tanisha also appreciates the support she receives from her mixed doubles partner, Dhruv Kapila. “Talking to Dhruv about it is very easy. In fact, there are days where he would ask me how my cycle is going, if I am okay and if I can handle that day’s session. He gets me food sometimes too and is very supportive,” she says.

At the Centre for Badminton Excellence in Bengaluru, former player and coach Sayali Gokhale has noticed that most younger students feel more comfortable approaching her or the female physiotherapists about their menstrual cycles.

The study also highlights this ‘reliance on female intermediaries’, noting that younger players specifically avoid speaking directly to male head coaches. The same pattern is frequently observed at the elite level, regardless of discipline.

The study notes that only two out of the six coaches have attended menstruation cycle-related workshops. Among the coaches surveyed, only one had a formal sports science degree.

“Some athletes begin their period cycles when they are 13-14 years old. Some are living in hostels or away from their parents. Particularly in those cases, it’s important for us also to check in on them and provide them with the right learning. We have a female physio and female trainer always present at the centre,” she says.

Indian badminton is yet to formalise the presence of a dedicated gynaecologist on the support staff at academies or even for elite players, a gap Tanisha attests to. Physiotherapists often fill that void, serving as sounding boards while also managing symptoms.

“If players come with period-related symptoms, I’d ask them to use a hot pack around their lower abdomen or back, get a gentle release at the lower lumbar spine, hydrate them, and do light, easy restorative work,” said Gayathri Shetty, a physiotherapist at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy.

Gayathri also raises concerns about the absence of training regimens that account for female physiology.

“Athletes sometimes go through irregular periods or amenorrhea (absence of a menstrual cycle). Sometimes, they end up overtraining their bodies; their cortisol levels keep elevating to a point where regularity of a 28-day menstrual cycle is disrupted,” she explains.

“Some athletes do amazing even around their periods, but some have very bad Dysmenorrhea (severe and frequent menstrual cramps), and for them, changing the training according to their cycle will work better,” Dr. Sneha contends.

She also notes that the late follicular phase and the period around ovulation have conventionally been associated with an increased risk of non-contact Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury. Sports such as football are beginning to invest heavily in exploring this correlation further.

It is this variation from one athlete to another that both professionals believe needs to be addressed. “I always tell my athletes that you cannot train like a smaller man. You need to train like a woman. But there is very little, if any, research on training specifically for women. It’s all adapted from men’s physiology. So it’s not fully reliable. We need more,” Gayathri says, while also highlighting the need for greater integration among coaches, nutritionists, trainers and physiotherapists.

The study shows that athletes cite the first two days of a menstrual cycle as the most disruptive to performance. The participants reported reduced agility, slower reaction time, stomach cramps, lower back pain, bloating and rapid fatigue during that phase.

As Gayathri notes, uneven awareness also means that recovery and load management differ from one athlete to another. This individuality makes menstruation a particularly challenging area of research. “Even if they are experiencing fatigue, I don’t think they even realise that they may be tired because of their periods,” Gayathri underlines.

Interestingly, multiple athletes reported that light physical activity or warming up helped alleviate cramps and lethargy, allowing them to train once the session was underway.

The stigma surrounding menstruation also varies, creating further gaps in knowledge among those responsible for supporting athletes, including coaches.

“I think periods are only about the menstrual week for them (coaches),” Tanisha says, while pointing out how issues like PMS and Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS, a newly adopted wider clinical term for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) are often unacknowledged amongst coaches in the Indian circuit.

Beyond questions of performance and research, some athletes still struggle to access resources and even basic sanitary products.

Players and coaches say badminton academies in India do not have sanitary product vending machines in their washrooms. Having hostel rooms just above the playing courts, as Tanisha did at her academy, can be a significant help, especially when periods arrive unexpectedly.

Sebastian also highlights the value of quick-commerce platforms such as Swiggy Instamart and Blinkit in similar situations. In both cases, however, the underlying pattern remains the same: ensuring that essentials are available is left to the athlete.

Spreading the word: Aditi Mutatkar at the BWF World Coaches Conference in Paris, where Simply Sport Foundation launched the Simply Periods Handbook, conducted workshops for female coaches and set up a menstrual health awareness kiosk. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

The recent BWF World Championships in New Delhi was therefore a revelation for Tanisha and many others, with washrooms equipped with sanitary products and other resources.

“They had sanitary napkins, tampons, and even pee-safe sprays. They had everything, which was very shocking for us because we’ve never seen it before in India, and a lot of the athletes even spoke on this and were really impressed,” Tanisha remembers.

SSF’s study highlights the wide variation reported in international sports literature, with between 3% and 100% of female athletes perceiving negative effects on performance from their menstrual cycle. This underlines the need to institutionalise individual monitoring rather than impose blanket rules.

Sensitising coaches and formalising policy are therefore crucial. The BWF has partnered with SSF on a programme called Simply Periods, which seeks to educate athletes and coaches about menstruation and its impact on performance. SSF has also conducted workshops for the Badminton Association of India, prioritising coaches to address the knowledge gap.

“However much I shout from the rooftop, people ask for proof. There are so many anecdotal accounts, but we need credible academic data to give this element of a female athlete’s life legitimacy,” Aditi points out.

“I think with sports, you kind of just find a way to deal with it because we’re always travelling and we’re not always in comfortable situations. So it’s just something that we kind of find ways to deal with and make the best out of this situation,” Tanisha adds, emphasising that although awareness of menstruation is moving in the right direction, there is still a long way to go.