Top 5 men’s singles badminton players of 2016

Lee Chong Wei — Lee triumphed at home at both the Malaysian Masters and the Malaysian Superseries

#4 Son Wan Ho (Korea)

Korean No. 1 Son Wan Ho stormed to the final of the Singapore Open, accounting for the fourth seed Viktor Axelsen and sixth seed Tian Houwei on the way. But he failed to ride on that momentum and slumped to a three-game loss to Sony Dwi Kuncoro in the summit clash.

The 28-year-old did not let that setback affect him and it only motivated him for even bigger performances in the latter half of the season. Post the Rio Olympics, where he lost to the eventual winner Chen Long in the quarter-finals, the Korean embarked on his most productive part of the year. He first reached the semi-finals of the Japan Open, then followed it up with a runner-up finish at both the Korean Open and the Denmark Open.

He finally tasted victory at the Korea Masters Grand Prix Gold for his first title of the year. At the Dubai World Superseries Finals, the confident Son put up a stunning show to topple the World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei in his first group match. He eventually reached the semi-finals and was rewarded with his best-ever ranking of No. 4 at the end of the season.

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