New Delhi: P V Sindhu struck gold just in time to shake off the choker’s tag, Saina Nehwal’s second coming kept getting better and Lakshya Sen was the proverbial one for the future in Indian badminton’s continuous onward march globally even though the title count took a hit.
In a year when the world body (BWF) introduced a new tournament structure, under which events were graded on stature based on prize money, Sindhu dominated the headlines with silver medals in all major events before a World Tour Finals crown.
Five silver medals would count for success in most books but not in the case of Sindhu, who faced criticism and pressure for finishing second-best way too often after putting in the hard yards to make the finals. She finally redeemed herself with the World Tour Finals gold.
On the other hand, Saina, whose recovery from a career-threatening knee injury began with a World Championship bronze last year, also produced some impressive performances this year.
The highlights were without doubt the gold and bronze at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games respectively. The CWG gold that came after an epic clash with Sindhu in the finals was in fact tribute to her determination.
Saina reached the finals at the Indonesia Masters, Denmark Open and Syed Modi International, besides winning bronze medals at Asia championship and Asian Games. The trailblazer also embarked on a brand new personal journey after tying the knot with fellow shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, a 2014 CWG gold-medallist.
In the men’s circuit, Sameer Verma raised the bar with three titles – Swiss Open Super 300, Syed Modi International Super 300 and Hyderabad Open Super 100 event. A semifinal finish at his maiden World Tour Finals propelled him to a career-best ranking of World No.14.
The prodigal talent of 17-year-old Lakshya gave the belief that Indian badminton is in safe hands. He clinched the Asian Junior Championships title and silver and bronze medals at the Youth Olympic Games and World Junior Championships respectively.
However, the unprecedented number of titles that Indian shuttlers won last year couldn’t be matched this season as star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth looked a pale shadow of his past self, failing to lay claim to a single title.
The only highlight for Srikanth was the individual silver at Commonwealth Games. He also helped India win a historic team gold at the Gold Coast event.
In doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy became Indian first men’s doubles pair to win a silver at CWG, besides winning three other competitions to stay inside the top 20.
Ashwini Ponnappa too continued her love affair with the CWG bronze with her women’s doubles partner N Sikki Reddy. Sourabh Verma returned from injury to win the Dutch Open Super 100 event in October.
Subhankar Dey had a breakthrough year as he claimed his maiden international title with the SaarLorLux Open Super 100 event. Kashyap also continued his bid to regain form and fitness and won the Austrian International.
