Sportskeeda's Top 10 Indian sportsmen of the year 2017

#1 Kidambi Srikanth (Badminton)

Srikanth Kidambi won four Superseries crowns in 2017

Phew!

At the top of the list is ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, who enjoyed the best season of his career so far, reaching the finals at Superseries tournaments on five occasions and winning four of them, the most by any men's singles player this year. While his potential was never in doubt, the Indian burst on to the international circuit in 2017 and pulled off some stunning victories against the likes of Chen Long and Viktor Axelsen.

The 24-year-old reached a career-high ranking of World No. 2 during the year and broke some incredible records in the process. He was part of the historic all-Indian Singapore Open final in April, where he lost to Sai Praneeth narrowly. However, he picked up the pace from there, notching up four titles across three continents.

The first came at the Indonesia Open, which included a stunning upset against then-World No. 1 Son Wan Ho, followed by victory in Australia, which included victims like Praneeth, Wan Ho and Long. He then picked up two more trophies in the European swing, stunning home favourite Axelsen on the way to lifting the Denmark Open and defeating Shi Yuqi and HS Prannoy in France.

With four Superseries titles in a single year, he joined the pantheon of greats featuring Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei and Long to have achieved the same feat. However, Srikanth had a relatively quiet outing at the World Championships in Glasgow and was troubled by injury towards the end of the year.

He lost the final at the National Championships to Prannoy before opting out of the China and Hong Kong Open. At the Superseries Finals, Srikanth lost all three of his group stage matches to bow out.

Despite these though, he certainly stands out as India's best sportsman over the year, thanks to his plethora of titles and incredible displays. Here's hoping he has an even better run in 2018, with a packed calendar in store!