Top 5 badminton women’s singles players of 2016

#4 PV Sindhu (India)

There has never been any doubt that the Pullela Gopichand-coached PV Sindhu is a gifted player. Possessing a devastating attacking game, her resume already had two World Championships bronze medals. Her defence had been the only chink in her armour so far.

The 21-year-old, who began the year by winning the Malaysia Masters, worked relentlessly on her weakness and improved by leaps and bounds. Armed with a newfound calmness, she soared to a new high at the Rio Olympics, clinching the silver medal en route to making new history for Indian badminton.

The unstoppable Sindhu continued to impress even after Rio and embarked on a memorable Asian Swing where she won the China Open and reached the final of the Hong Kong Open, rising to career-best No. 7. The late surge gave her a chance to compete with the crème de la creme at the World Superseries Finals and she justified her place by making the last-four.

For her astounding success throughout the season, she was rightly adjudged the ‘Most improved player’ by BWF.

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