Wing Commander Satish Bhatia (retd), a former Indian badminton player credited with creating the banned 'spin service', died on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was eighty-one.

A former badminton coach at the University of Texas Sports Department, Bhatia competed in three Thomas Cups (1963, 1966 and 1969), held the Junior World Championship title in the 1960s and participated in the Asian and Commonwealth Games in the 1970s. .

"He was known in badminton circles as a left-handed singles exponent with a deadly 'spin serve'," said his daughter Aarti. A few players thought they could only shoot Indian shuttles like Jabico, Skylark and Albatross. However, he claimed that even with RSL shuttles in worldwide use, he could perform a forehand "spin serve" with a vertical shuttle, cutting through the cork (as opposed to the subsequently banned "Sidek" backhand serve with an inverted shuttle, cutting through the feather).

Bhatia, who turned eighty-one this month, was always up for a chat about badminton. "In 1968, I witnessed Satish contest against two-time All-England winner Rudy Harton. Rudy was driven mad by the attractive southpaw, who used his signature forehand against him. One of his supporters, Shirish Nadkarni, said that the Indonesian player in the opening game struggled to manage a return on serve, at 1:14, game point, despite trying to hurry up and take advantage of the serve.

Bhatia had been battling cancer for a long time before she died on Wednesday. This is a significant setback for the badminton community. According to Surinder Mahajan, general secretary of Chandigarh Badminton Association (CBA) and joint secretary of Badminton Association of India (BAI), many others have found inspiration in him. Bhatia first flew the Dakotas and Devnos and has approximately 6,000 flying hours .