Badminton in India

Badminton in India
CountryIndia
Governing bodyBadminton Association of India
National team(s)India
International competitions
Olympic Games Silver x1 Bronze x2
Paralympic Games Gold x3 Silver x3 Bronze x3
World Championships Gold x1 Silver x4 Bronze x9
Asian Games Gold x1 Silver x2 Bronze x10
Asian Para Games Gold x8 Silver x8 Bronze x21
South Asian Games Gold x34 Silver x21 Bronze x3

Badminton is a popular sport in India. It is managed by the Badminton Association of India. Indian shuttlers Prakash Padukone, Srikanth Kidambi, Jwala Gutta, Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, H. S. Prannoy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have all been ranked in the top ten.

Prakash Padukone was the first player from India to achieve the world no. 1 spot in the game, after which Srikanth Kidambi became the second male player to make it to the top spot in April 2018.[1] Saina Nehwal is the first female player from India to achieve the world no. 1 spot, which she did in April 2015, and the first Indian badminton player to win a medal at the Olympic Games.[2][3]

P. V. Sindhu is the first Indian to become the badminton World Champion, which she achieved in 2019, and the only badminton player from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games.[4][5] The most successful doubles player from India is Jwala Gutta, who is the only Indian to have been ranked in the Top-10 of two categories. She peaked at no. 6 with Valiyaveetil Diju in mixed doubles and at no. 10 with Ashwini Ponnappa in women's doubles.[6]

Other successful players include Pullela Gopichand, Aparna Popat, Syed Modi, Nandu Natekar, Chetan Anand, Parupalli Kashyap, B. Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma and N. Sikki Reddy.

History

Indian National Badminton Team at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand both won the All England Open in 1980 and 2001 respectively, making them the only Indians to win the prestigious title.

Saina Nehwal won the bronze medal in the individual women's competition at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the first Olympic medal for the country in badminton. P. V. Sindhu won the second and the third Olympic medals in badminton for India, winning a silver and a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics respectively.

India has won several medals at the BWF World Championships as well, with Prakash Padukone winning the first in 1982. The doubles pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa became the first women to win a medal when they won the bronze in 2011.[7] P. V. Sindhu then won consecutive bronze medals at 2013 and 2014 editions, the first Indian player to do so. Saina Nehwal won a first-ever silver at the 2015 Championships, and then a bronze in 2017.[8] P. V. Sindhu won silver in consecutive editions in 2017 and 2018. Sindhu then went on to win the gold at the 2019 BWF World Championships and become the first Indian to ever finish on top of the podium. At the same edition, B. Sai Praneeth medalled in the men's singles after 36 years, clinching the bronze. As a result, for the first time, India won medals in two different disciplines in the same BWF World Championships edition. In 2021, Lakshya Sen won the bronze medal in men's singles while Srikanth Kidambi won the silver, the first time India had two medallists in the same edition in the men's singles discipline. In 2022, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won India's first World Championship medal in the men's doubles, a bronze. Till date, India has never returned empty handed from the World Championships since 2011.

At the BWF World Junior Championships, Saina Nehwal is the only gold medalist for India, which she achieved in 2008. At the Badminton Asia Junior Championships, P. V. Sindhu and Lakshya Sen are the only gold medalists for India, winning in their respective categories in 2012 and 2018 respectively.

Player Name Discipline Best ranking Olympic medals World Championship medals
Saina Nehwal Women's Singles 1 1 2
P. V. Sindhu Women's Singles 2 2 5
Prakash Padukone Men's Singles 1 - 1
Srikanth Kidambi Men's Singles 1 - 1
Lakshya Sen Men's Singles 6 - 1
H. S. Prannoy Men's Singles 6 - 1
B. Sai Praneeth Men's Singles 10 - 1
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty Men's Doubles 1 - 1
Jwala Gutta and V. Diju Mixed Doubles 6 - -
Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa Women's Doubles 10 - 1
India Team 5 N.A. N.A.

Current rankings

Men's singles

Top 5 as per September 2024

Position Player Points
17 Prannoy H.S. 57292
18 Lakshya Sen 55428
36 Priyanshu Rajawat 40400
38 Srikanth Kidambi 38933
40 Kiran George 37215

Women's singles

Top 5 as per September 2024

Position Player Points
14 PV Sindhu 61462
40 Aakarshi Kashyap 34370
43 Malvika Bansod 33050
46 Anupama Upadhyaya 31530
50 Unnati Hooda 30600

Men's doubles

Top 3 as per September 2024

Position Player Points
4 Chirag Shetty
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
88590
37 K. Sai Pratheek
Krishna Prasad Garaga
34480
53 Dhruv Kapila
Arjun M.R.
29973

Women's doubles

Top 3 as per September 2024

Position Player Points
17 Tanisha Crasto
Ashwini Ponnappa
54500
23 Treesa Jolly
Gayatri Gopichand
49384
47 Rutaparna Panda
Swetaparna Panda
30470

Mixed doubles

Top 3 as per September 2024

Position Player Points
30 Sumeeth Reddy
N. Sikki Reddy
36330
36 Aadya Variyath
Sathish Karunakaran
34530
64 Tanisha Crasto
Dhruv Kapila
18720

Olympic Games

Year Event Player Result
2024 Men's singles Lakshya Sen 4th
Prannoy H. S. Round of 16
Women's singles P. V. Sindhu Round of 16
Men's doubles Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
Chirag Shetty
Quarter-finals
Women's doubles Ashwini Ponnappa
Tanisha Crasto
Group stage
2020 Men's singles B. Sai Praneeth Group stage
Women's singles P. V. Sindhu Bronze
Men's doubles Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
Chirag Shetty
Group stage
2016 Men's singles Srikanth Kidambi Quarter-finals
Women's singles P. V. Sindhu Silver
Saina Nehwal Group stage
Men's doubles Manu Attri
B. Sumeeth Reddy
Group stage
Women's doubles Jwala Gutta
Ashwini Ponnappa
Group stage
2012 Men's singles Parupalli Kashyap Quarter-finals
Women's singles Saina Nehwal Bronze
Women's doubles Jwala Gutta
Ashwini Ponnappa
Group stage
Mixed doubles Valiyaveetil Diju
Jwala Gutta
Group stage
2008 Men's singles Anup Sridhar Second round
Women's singles Saina Nehwal Quarter-finals
2004 Men's singles Nikhil Kanetkar Round of 16
Abhinn Shyam Gupta Round of 32
Women's singles Aparna Popat Round of 16
2000 Men's singles Pullela Gopichand Third round
Women's singles Aparna Popat First round
1996 Men's singles Deepankar Bhattacharya Second round
Women's singles P. V. V. Lakshmi Second round
1992 Men's singles Deepankar Bhattacharya Third round
Women's singles Madhumita Bisht Second round
Men's doubles Deepankar Bhattacharya
U. Vimal Kumar
First round

Paralympic Games

Year Event Player Result
2024 Men's singles SL3 Manoj Sarkar Group stage
Nitesh Kumar Gold
Men's singles SL4 Suhas Yathiraj Silver
Sukant Kadam 4th
Tarun Dhillon Group stage
Men's singles SH6 Krishna Nagar Group stage
Sivarajan Solaimalai Group stage
Women's singles SL3 Manasi Joshi Group stage
Mandeep Kaur Quarter-finals
Women's singles SL4 Palak Kohli Quarter-finals
Women's singles SU5 Thulasimathi Murugesan Silver
Manisha Ramadass Bronze
Women's singles SH6 Nithya Sivan Bronze
Mixed doubles SL3–SU5 Nitesh Kumar
Thulasimathi Murugesan
Group stage
Suhas Yathiraj
Palak Kohli
Group stage
Mixed doubles SH6 Sivarajan Solaimalai
Nithya Sivan
4th
2020 Men's singles SL3 Pramod Bhagat Gold
Manoj Sarkar Bronze
Men's singles SL1 Tarun Dhillon 4th
Suhas Yathiraj Silver
Men's singles SH6 Krishna Nagar Gold
Women's singles SL4 Parul Parmar Group stage
Women's singles SU5 Palak Kohli Quarter-finals
Women's doubles SL3–SU5 Parul Parmar
Palak Kohli
Group stage
Mixed doubles SL3–SU5 Pramod Bhagat
Palak Kohli
4th

Medal table

Tournament Gold Silver Bronze Total
Olympic Games 0 1 2 3
Paralympic Games 3 3 3 9
World Championships 1 4 9 14
Para World Championships ? ? ? ?
Thomas Cup 1 0 3 4
Uber Cup 0 0 3 3
Sudirman Cup 0 0 0 0
Asian Championships 2 0 16 18
Asian Team Championships 1 1 2 4
Asian Mixed Team Championships 0 0 1 1
Asian Games 1 2 10 13
Asian Para Games 8 8 21 37
South Asian Games 34 21 3 58
Commonwealth Games 10 8 13 31
Total 61 48 86 195
  • Updated till 19 September, 2024

National award recipients

Year Recipient Award Gender
2000–2001 Pullela Gopichand Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Male
2010 Saina Nehwal Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Female
2016 P. V. Sindhu Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Female
1961 Nandu M. Natekar Arjuna Award Male
1962 Meena Shah Arjuna Award Female
1965 Dinesh Khanna Arjuna Award Male
1967 Suresh Goel Arjuna Award Male
1969 Dipu Ghosh Arjuna Award Male
1970 Damayanti Tambay Arjuna Award Female
1971 Sobha Morthy Arjuna Award Female
1972 Prakash Padukone Arjuna Award Male
1974 Raman Ghosh Arjuna Award Male
1975 Devinder Ahuja Arjuna Award Male
1976 Ami Ghia Arjuna Award Female
1977–1978 Kanwal Thakar Singh Arjuna Award Female
1980–1981 Syed Modi Arjuna Award Male
1982 Madhumita Bisht Arjuna Award Female
1982 Partho Ganguli Arjuna Award Male
1999 Pullela Gopichand Arjuna Award Male
2000 George Thomas Arjuna Award Male
2004 Abhinn Shyam Gupta Arjuna Award Male
2005 Aparna Popat Arjuna Award Female
2006 Chetan Anand Arjuna Award Male
2007 Anup Sridhar Arjuna Award Male
2009 Saina Nehwal Arjuna Award Female
2011 Jwala Gutta Arjuna Award Female
2012 Parupalli Kashyap Arjuna Award Male
2012 Ashwini Ponnappa Arjuna Award Female
2013 P. V. Sindhu Arjuna Award Female
2014 Valiyaveetil Diju Arjuna Award Male
2015 Srikanth Kidambi Arjuna Award Male
2018 N. Sikki Reddy Arjuna Award Female
2019 B. Sai Praneeth Arjuna Award Male
2020 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy Arjuna Award Male
2020 Chirag Shetty Arjuna Award Male
2022 Lakshya Sen Arjuna Award Male
2022 Prannoy H. S. Arjuna Award Male
2020 Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe Dhyan Chand Award Male
2020 Trupti Murgunde Dhyan Chand Award Female
2017 G. S. S. V. Prasad + Dronacharya Award Male
2000 S. M. Arif Dronacharya Award Male
2009 Pullela Gopichand Dronacharya Award Male
2019 U. Vimal Kumar Dronacharya Award Male
Key
   + Indicates a Lifetime contribution honour

Former notable players

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kidambi Srikanth becomes first Indian male shuttler to claim World No 1 spot after Prakash Padukone". Firstpost. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  2. ^ Rao, Rakesh (28 March 2015). "Saina becomes World No. 1". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  3. ^ "London Olympics: Super Saina wins India's maiden Olympic medal in badminton, claims bronze in playoff". www.indiatoday.in. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  4. ^ "When PV Sindhu became Indian badminton's golden girl". Olympic Games. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  5. ^ "PV Sindhu joins select group of repeat medalists with Tokyo 2020 bronze". Olympic Games. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Jwala Gutta". Tournament Software. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  7. ^ "News, Breaking News, Latest News, News Headlines, Live News, Today News CNN-News18".
  8. ^ "Saina Nehwal". london2012.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2012..
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