3 Indian badminton players who have qualified for the Men's Singles Quarter-finals at the Olympics ft. Lakshya Sen
Indian badminton players have won a total of three medals at the Olympic Games so far. The sport made its debut at the Olympics in the 1992 Summer Games held in Barcelona, Spain.
All of those three medals, one silver and two bronze, have been clinched by India’s female shuttlers. Saina Nehwal was the first shuttler to win a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics. PV Sindhu won the silver and bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, respectively.
Though the male players are yet to win a medal for the Indian badminton contingent at the biggest of stages, there have been instances where they have put in good performances at the Games.
In total, there have been three male players who have made it to the quarter-final round of the men’s singles event at the Olympics. India is yet to proceed further from the quarter-finals stage at the Summer Games.
3 Indian badminton players who have qualified for the Men's Singles Quarter-finals at the Olympics ft. Lakshya Sen
#3 Parupalli Kashyap - London 2012
Parupalli Kashyap became the first male Indian badminton player to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Olympics. The feat came in the 2012 Summer Games held in London. Parupalli Kashyap won back-to-back games against Belgium’s Yuhan Tan and Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh to finish on top of his group.
He then made it to the quarter-finals after defeating Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne in the Round of 16. Parupalli did not make it past the quarters after losing to the eventual silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.
Though he lost, Kashyap got plenty of praise for putting up a commendable fight in the game and also for making it to the quarter-finals stage.
#2 Srikanth Kidambi - 2016 Rio
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Srikanth Kidambi became the second male Indian badminton player to reach the quarter-finals. The shuttler defeated a higher-ranked opponent in Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen 21-19, 21-19 to book his spot in the quarters.
However, the Arjuna Awardee was unable to go on and win India its first medal in the men’s singles event. Kidambi lost his quarter-final match to China’s two-time defending champion Lin Dan.
Srikanth lost the game but not before displaying a great exhibition of his skills. Kidambi bounced back strongly after going down in the first set to win the second set 21-11 but lost the third to crash out of the tournament.
#1 Lakshya Sen - Paris 2024
The new poster boy of Indian badminton, Lakshya Sen, achieved the feat more recently at the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024. Lakshya qualified for the quarter-finals stage and became the third male Indian badminton player to do so.
The Almora-born shuttler is appearing in his maiden Olympics and has already shown what he is capable of. Earlier in the competition, Lakshya stunned World No. 4 Jonatan Christie to make it to the pre-quarter-finals round.
However, Lakshya making it to the quarter-finals in Paris must have been a bitter-sweet moment. He had to compete against fellow Indian shuttler HS Prannoy in his Round of 16 match. Lakshya beat Prannoy 21-12, 21-6 in straight games to make it the the next stage of the competition.
Lakshya Sen would now be going up against Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan in the quarter-final round on August 2. The 22-year-old will back himself to put up another great show and bring home India’s first Olympic medal in the men’s singles event.