Tokyo Olympics: It's time for Indian badminton to cement its legacy

B Sai Praneeth - Indian badminton's trump card for the Tokyo Olympics

Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth - Indian badminton's trump card

While for many, it might be a foregone conclusion, Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth can do at the Tokyo Olympics what no other Indian male shuttler has managed to achieve - clinch a historic Olympic medal. It won't be tough for the student of esteemed badminton wizard Pullela Gopichand.

A child prodigy from the start, Sai Praneeth made India take notice when he clinched a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships in 2010. However, it took him several years to get comfortable at the senior level.

In 2013, he stunned two badminton stalwarts, one after the other. He denied Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat a respectable farewell and also defeated the then-world No. 4 Hu Yun of Hong Kong in the Singapore Super Series.

However, Sai Praneeth's true reckoning came in 2019, when he clinched bronze at the BWF World Championships. This was India's first medal in the men's singles category since Prakash Padukone did it in 1987.

The Tokyo Olympics can make a hero out of Sai Praneeth. If he keeps his wits about him, the sky is the limit for this guy.