Indian men badminton players never had it so good

Sania Nehwal and PV Sindhu have carved a niche by winning so many World, Olympic and Super series titles that - barring Kidambi Srikanth's four successive Super series titles in a year - it shaded the efforts of the men on the circuit. But the last few years have seen a gradual shift with the men reclaiming lost ground. After Prakash Padukone's memorable All England triumph, it took 21 years for another Indian - Pullela Gopichand - to emulate him. And now after a 16-year gap, the likes of Srikanth, Sai Praneeth and Lakshya Sen are winning big tournaments.

Read AlsoAim to have at least 10 Indians in top-30 in each category: Gopichand

Exactly 28 years back, the Indian government had refused to send the badminton contingent to the 1994 Commonwealth Games as it was so confident that they cannot finish in the top-6, that too competing with the likes of England, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka etc.

Indian badminton owes a lot of its success to Gopichand's coaching. He won the Olympic bronze with Saina in 2012 and Olympic silver with Sindhu in 2016. With him as her coach, Sindhu also won the World Championships in 2019. In 2014, after Sindhu won her second bronze at the Worlds, Gopichand had said that in four years, Indian men can taste similar success. He was right on the money, as Srikanth won four Super Series titles in 2017 and became world No. 1 in April 2018. Praneeth ended the 36-year drought when he claimed bronze at the World Championships in 2019. Padukone had won it in 1983. "Achieving success in men's badminton is quite tough as the field is very strong. But we are working, our time will come," Gopichand had said in 2014. More than Sindhu, he expected medal from Srikanth in Rio Olympics. "He was perfect, did not