Indian shuttlers’ superb results in 2017 highlight incredible surge

Indian badminton has seen an incredible improvement in 2017 and the numbers are there to validate this fact now. The shuttlers from the country have claimed as many as 20 medals at the highest level of the sport that encompasses World Championships, Superseries and Grand Prix Gold events in the BWF calendar.

Out of the 20, 13 have been gold medals, six have been silver and the solitary bronze medal was bagged by Saina Nehwal at the World Championships. There are no bronze medals awarded to semi-finalists at the Superseries or Grand Prix Gold events.

Men outshine women

India’s hegemony of the Superseries singles events this year has been mind-boggling. Seven triumphs have come from the Superseries category alone, with five being delivered by the men. That thoroughly underlines how far men’s singles badminton has progressed in the country since the arrival of the Indonesian coach, Mulyo Handoyo.

Srikanth Kidambi has undoubtedly been the star of the show and has scooped up a staggering four titles at the Superseries level or above in one calendar year, something no Indian has ever been able to accomplish before. The Guntur-born ace, who climbed to a career-best World No. 2 ranking on Thursday, also has a silver medal from the only Superseries final that he has lost this year at Singapore.

Sai Praneeth gives him company as the only other Indian man to win a Superseries title. PV Sindhu too was crowned a champion at this level twice with her biggest achievement coming at the World Championships where she finished as the runner-up.

At the Grand Prix Gold level, India has a doubles title as well that was clinched by the India No. 1 mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy. Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy’s only titles this year have been in this category.

With a couple of Superseries tournaments and one Grand Prix Gold event still to go, apart from the prestigious Dubai World Superseries Finals, there is a high chance that India might just increase their tally even further.

Medals claimed by Indian shuttlers so far at GPG level or above:

Gold medals (13)

Srikanth Kidambi (Men’s singles) - Indonesia Open Superseries Premier

Srikanth Kidambi (Men’s singles) - Denmark Open Superseries Premier

Srikanth Kidambi (Men’s singles) - Australian Open Superseries

Srikanth Kidambi (Men’s singles) - French Open Superseries

Sai Praneeth (Men’s singles) - Singapore Open Superseries

PV Sindhu (Women’s singles) - India Open Superseries

PV Sindhu (Women’s singles) - Korea Open Superseries

Sai Praneeth (Men’s singles) - Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold

HS Prannoy (Men’s singles) - US Open Grand Prix Gold

Sameer Verma (Men’s singles) - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold

PV Sindhu (Women’s singles) - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold

Saina Nehwal (Women’s singles) - Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy (Mixed doubles) - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold

Silver medals (6)

PV Sindhu (Women’s singles) - World Championships

Srikanth Kidambi (Men’s singles) - Singapore Open Superseries

Parupalli Kashyap (Men’s singles) - US Grand Prix Gold

Sai Praneeth (Men’s singles) - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy (Women’s doubles) - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy (Mixed doubles) - Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold

Bronze medal (1)

Saina Nehwal (Women’s singles) - World Championships