Top 5 Indian Badminton players of all time
Indian Badminton tasted international success and had great players like P Gopichand, Prakash Padukone, Madhumita Bisht, Aparna Popat, Syed Modi and Vimal Kumar in the 20th century.
But due to lack of infrastructure and exposure, many a time, these great players, failed to perform to the best of their potential.
However, in the 21st century, things have changed for the better. With better facilities and exposure, Indian badminton has become more consistent. With great players like Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, K Srikanth, H S Pranoy, P Kasyap, J Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa coming up and consistently winning international events, Indian Badminton has reached its peak in the recent years.
In this article, we have tried to pick the top 5 Indian badminton players of all time.
#5 Pullela Gopichand
Gopichand is more well known to the present generation of badminton fans, for his excellent coaching ability. He has been the mentor of modern-day greats like Saina, Sindhu and Srikanth.
But as a player also, Gopichand was of the very highest quality. His biggest achievement was winning the prestigious All England Championship in 2001, by beating top players like Peter Gade and Chen Hong.
He achieved a career-best ranking of 5th in March 2001.
Because of injuries, he had to cut short his playing career and could not achieve greater heights as a player.
#4 K Srikanth
He is the best Indian Men's Singles player of the present generation. Srikanth became World number 1 in men's Singles in April 2018 after his tremendous performance in the 2017-18 season.
He is one of the best players in the circuit and on his day he can beat anybody in the world. His attacking style of play makes him almost unstoppable when he is in rhythm.
He has already won 7 super series titles, which is the maximum, by any Indian male player.
Being only 25-years-old, he has a long way to go. He will definitely win many more medals in premier tournaments like Olympics, World Championships and All England Championships if he is able to maintain his form and fitness.