Top 5 badminton women’s singles players of 2016

#3 Sun Yu (China)

The baton has passed from China’s irrepressible trio of Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian to the next generation. With Yihan and Shixian retiring this year and Xuerui sustaining an injury at Rio, it was left to the rising brigade to carry the torch in Chinese women’s singles badminton.

Tall and athletic, 22-year-old Sun Yu was the best player to fill in their shoes. In 2016, she had her most consistent season as she steadily rose towards the top. She reached as many as six finals which secured her place among the top eight at the World Superseries Finals, where she went unbeaten in the group stage. Sun deservedly finished at a career-high ranking of 6th after going down to 15th in April.

About the author

Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.

Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.

Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.

Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.

When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.

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Edited by Staff Editor