Srikanth Kidambi

Srikanth Kidambi (born 7 February 1993) is an Indian badminton player who trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad. He became the best men's singles badminton player in the world in April 2018. Kidambi was awarded with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award in 2018.[1] and Arjuna award in 2015.

Srikanth Kidambi
Personal information
Birth nameSrikanth Nammalwar Kidambi
Country India
Born (1993-02-07) 7 February 1993
Ravulapalem, Andhra Pradesh, India
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
HandednessRight
CoachPullela Gopichand
Men's singles
Career record230 wins, 116 losses
Career title(s)10
Highest ranking1 (12 April 2018)
Current ranking12 (18 February 2020)
Medal record
Men's badminton
Representing  India
Commonwealth Games
2018 Gold Coast Mixed team
2018 Gold Coast Men's singles
Asia Team Championships
2016 Hyderabad Men's team
2020 Manila Men's team
South Asian Games
2016 Guwahati-Shillong Men's singles
2016 Guwahati-Shillong Men's team
2019 Kathmandu-Pokhara Men's team
Asian Junior Championships
2011 Lucknow Mixed team
Commonwealth Youth Games
2011 Douglas Mixed doubles
2011 Douglas Boys' doubles
BWF profile

Early life and background

Srikanth Nammalwar Kidambi was born in Ravulapalem, Andhra Pradesh on 7 February 1993 to a Telugu speaking family. His father, KVS Krishna is a landlord, and his mother Radha a house-wife.[2] Srikanth’s older brother K. Nandagopal is also a badminton player.[3]

Career

2011

In the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games in Isle of Man, Kidambi won the silver in mixed doubles and bronze in doubles.[4] He also emerged winner in the singles and doubles category at the All India Junior International Badminton Championship held in Pune.[5]

2012

In 2012 Kidambi overcame the then Junior World Champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli of Malaysia in the Maldives International Challenge to claim the men's singles title.[6]

2013

In the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold event, Kidambi won the men's singles title beating then world number eight and local favorite Boonsak Ponsana in straight sets.[7] In the same year, Kidambi beat reigning champion and Olympian Parupalli Kashyap in the All India Senior National Championships in Delhi to claim his first senior national title.[8] He was also part of the Awadhe Warriors team that finished second in the Indian Badminton League, 2013.[9]

2014

Kidambi finished runner up at the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold event in Lucknow.[10] and was a quarter finalist in 2014 Malaysian Open.[11] He was part of the Indian badminton contingent that reached the semi finals of the Mixed-team event at the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow.[12] He also reached the quarter finals of the men's singles event in the same tournament. [13] In November, he created a major upset in the final of the 2014 China Open Super Series Premier by beating 5 times World Champion and 2 times Olympic Champion Lin Dan in straight sets (21–19 21–17), thus becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series Premier men's title.[14] He then reached semi finals of Hong Kong Open Super Series after beating in-form Chou Tien-chen in the early rounds. He lost to Chen Long of China in three sets in the semifinals. With those wins he was qualified for the world super series finals. He defeated Kento Momota (15–21 21–16 21–10) and Tommy Sugiarto (21–18 21–13) in the group stage to reach semi finals of the prestigious BWF Super Series Masters Finals where he again lost to Chen Long of China.[15]

2015

Kidambi became the first Indian male to win gold at the 2015 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold by defeating Viktor Axelsen 21–15,12–21,21–14. The same year he also won India Open Super Series title by defeating Viktor Axelsen in the finals.[16]

2016

Kidambi reached the semifinal in the Malaysia Masters, where he lost to Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin of Malaysia in January. The following week he won the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships Grand Prix Gold title, defeating Huang Yuxiang 21–13, 14–21, 21–14 in the final. At the 2016 South Asian Games, he won two gold medals, in men's team and men's singles, defeating Prannoy Kumar in the singles final. At the 2016 Badminton Asia Team Championship, although his team lost in the semifinal, he remained undefeated.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, the World No. 11, Kidambi entered the round of 16 of the men's singles by beating Lino Muñoz and Henri Hurskainen. He went on to beat World No. 5 Jan Ø. Jørgensen 21–19, 21–19 to reach the quarterfinals,[17] but was defeated by Lin Dan by a score of 6–21, 21–11, and 18–21.

2017

Kidambi and Sai Praneeth created history when they became the first ever Indian pair to enter the finals of a ranking event in Badminton. Both hailing from Hyderabad and being coached by Pullela Gopichand, it was Sai Praneeth who prevailed 17–21, 21–17, 21–12 eventually to clinch the Singapore Super Series title.[18]

Kidambi won the Indonesia Super Series beating Japan's Kazumasa Sakai 21–11, 21–19 thereby becoming the first ever Indian male player to do so. He went on to win Australian Super Series beating China's Chen Long 22–20, 21–16 in the final, setting an Indian record for entering three consecutive Super Series Finals.[19] At the World Championships, he was defeated in the quarter-final by South Korea's Son Wan-Ho in straight sets. At the next Super Series, in Denmark, he won the title defeating Lee Hyun-il of Korea 21–10, 21–5 in the final. Following his good run, Kidambi became the fourth player ever to win four Super Series titles in a year, after he won the French Super Series that followed, defeating Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21–14, 21–13 in the final. In the process, he equaled the record held by Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan, and Chen Long. Following the victory, he reached his career-best ranking of 2.[20]

2018

Kidambi started 2018 at the India Open as the second seed. He was defeated in the second round by Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin who had qualified from the qualifiers.[21] He also lost in the second round at the All England Open to Chinese player Huang Yuxiang in three games.[22] At the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Kidambi was more successful, winning a gold in the mixed team event, and a silver in the singles event.[23] He achieved world number 1 ranking for a week during this period. [24]

2019

Kidambi represented his country at the South Asian Games in Nepal, and won the gold medal in the team event.[25]

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

Men's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2018 Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre, Gold Coast, Australia Lee Chong Wei 21–19, 14–21, 14–21 Silver

South Asian Games

Men's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2016 Multipurpose Hall SAI–SAG Centre, Shillong, India H.S. Prannoy 11–21, 21–14, 21–6 Gold

BWF World Tour (1 runner-up)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[26] is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[27]

Men's singles

Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result
2019 India Open Super 500 Viktor Axelsen 7–21, 20–22 Runner-up

BWF Superseries (6 titles, 1 runner-up)

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries had two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries featured twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.

Men's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2017 French Open Kenta Nishimoto 21–14, 21–13 Winner
2017 Denmark Open Lee Hyun-il 21–10, 21–5 Winner
2017 Australian Open Chen Long 22–20, 21–16 Winner
2017 Indonesia Open Kazumasa Sakai 21–11, 21–19 Winner
2017 Singapore Open B. Sai Praneeth 21–17, 17–21, 12–21 Runner–up
2015 India Open Viktor Axelsen 18–21, 21–13, 21–12 Winner
2014 China Open Lin Dan 21–19, 21–17 Winner
     BWF World Superseries Premier tournament
     BWF World Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Men's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2016 Syed Modi International Huang Yuxiang 21–13, 14–21, 21–14 Winner
2015 Indonesian Masters Tommy Sugiarto 21–17, 13–21, 22–24 Runner-up
2015 Swiss Open Viktor Axelsen 21–15, 12–21, 21–14 Winner
2015 Syed Modi International Kashyap Parupalli 21–23, 21–23 Runner-up
2014 Syed Modi International Xue Song 21–16, 19–21, 13–21 Runner-up
2013 Thailand Open Boonsak Ponsana 21–16, 21–12 Winner
     BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
     BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title)

Men's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2012 Maldives International Zulfadli Zulkiffli 13–21, 21–11, 21–16 Winner
     BWF International Challenge tournament
     BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents

Head to head (H2H) against World Superseries finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists.[28]

Awards
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gollark: Or just record yourself saying the name and play it back to them.
gollark: Generate a random 4-word sequence like the xkcd password recommendation.
gollark: Generate a random hex string.
gollark: So just don't do that.

References
  1. "Padma awards 2018 announced, MS Dhoni, Sharda Sinha among 85 recipients: Here's complete list". India TV. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  2. Dev Sukumar (21 December 2012). "sportskeeda.com".
  3. "Brothers from Guntur create history". The Times of India.
  4. Commonwealth Youth Games, 2011
  5. Junior International Championship results
  6. "Maldives International Challenge 2012".
  7. "Thailand Open Grand Prix, 2013". The Times of India.
  8. "All India Senior Nationals, Delhi, 2013". The Times of India.
  9. IBL, 2013
  10. India Open Grand Prix, 2014
  11. "Malaysian Open, 2014". Deccan Chronicle.
  12. "Srikanth Glasgow, 2014".
  13. Rakesh Rao. "Badminton: Srikanth stuns Ajay Jayaram". The Hindu.
  14. "Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth Win China Open Titles".
  15. "Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth boost their semifinal chances with second win". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  16. "Kidambi Srikanth Is the First Ever Indian Man to Win Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, 2015". Kridangan.
  17. "Kidambi Srikanth storms into quarters". SportsCafe.in.
  18. Sportswallah Desk (16 April 2017). "sportswallah.com".
  19. "Kidambi Srikanth beats Chen Long to win Australia Open Super Series". The Times of India. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  20. "Kidambi Srikanth rises to career-best number two in latest badminton rankings". The Indian Express. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  21. "India Open: Kidambi Srikanth in awe of Zulkarnain's 'unimaginable' retrievals". India Today. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  22. "All England Open 2018: Kidambi Srikanth, Chirag Shetty lash out at 'ridiculous' umpiring after suffering narrow defeats". Firstpost. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  23. "Participants: Srikanth Kidambi". gc2018.com. Gold Coast 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  24. "world number 1 ranking". ChaiBisket. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  25. "South Asian Games 2019: India collect team gold in men's and women's badminton after overcoming Sri Lanka in summit clashes". www.firstpost.com. 2 December 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  26. "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. 29 November 2017.
  27. "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. 15 January 2018.
  28. "Srikanth Kidambi Profile – Head To Head". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  29. "5 lakh cash award for Srikanth from Badminton Association of India". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  30. "BAI announces cash award for Srikanth". thehindu.com. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  31. "Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth lift India Open Super Series titles". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  32. "Srikanth beats Sakai to win Indonesia Open Super Series Premier title - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  33. "Kidambi Srikanth, Somdev Devvarman receive Padma Shri awards; Padma Bhushan for Dhoni". The Times of India. 21 March 2018.
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