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Srikanth Kidambi
In what appears to be perhaps the early years of a golden age in Indian badminton, 23-year-old Srikanth Kidambi has excelled on the world stage. One of India’s crop of quickly-rising talents, the World No. 11 is India’s highest-ranked male player on the badminton circuit.
Srikanth became the first Indian man to win a Super Series Premier title when, in 2014, he beat former World No. 1 Lin Dan in straight games in the final. He would go on to win the India Open Super Series the following year, also collecting a number of other titles.
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Qualifying for Rio 2016, his debut Olympic Games, Srikanth had a dream showing, progressing to the quarter-finals where he met his old nemesis Lin Dan; even there, the youngster from Guntur more than held his own, scalping a game off his significantly more experienced rival. It was perhaps his inexperience that saw him make a number of errors in his net play towards the end, which lost him the match.
But his ability to show his mettle against among the best in badminton augurs well for the sport, especially given both Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu have brought home medals.
