Mahoor Shahzad and Sehra Akram calmly walked away from the badminton court, conspicuous by their trackpants, after their 3-21, 6-21 thrashing at the hands of Korea's Sohee Lee and Seungchan Shin in the women's doubles first round here. A day earlier, they were humbled in their respective first rounds of the women's singles too. Both girls are singles players, but formed a doubles team just to make up the numbers.

Badminton is among the least cared for sport in Pakistan, unlike in India, where it is a priority and highly popular. "We do not have a single academy back home. We don't even have a shuttlecock machine which is one of the most important and common pieces of equipment in badminton training," Karachi resident Mahoor, 21, Pakistan's women's singles national champion, tells mid-day.