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He shares his name and initials with a former cricketer but has nothing to do with that sport. Kidambi Srikanth is an upcoming Indian badminton player who hails from Andhra Pradesh, and seems all set to make a name for himself on the world stage. Some might say that he is already there.
Srikanth currently holds a ranking of No. 20 in the men’s singles category and the number matches his age. That puts him just two places lower than Kashyap’s ranking who is the current top Indian player with a world ranking of No. 18.
Srikanth trains at the Gopichand academy in Hyderabad and is one of several young talents who undergo training at this prestigious academy, which include the likes of Kashyap and Saina Nehwal.
The Awadhe Warriors player is now popularly referred to as the giant killer, owing to his taking down some of the world’s top players in various tournaments held in 2013 and 2014. He is now also the newly crowned top badminton player in India in the men’s singles category, having won the National Championships held in Delhi in December 2013, where he threw out ace players such as Kashyap and Gurusaidutt.
But Srikanth’s greatest victory till date has to be him beating the then World No. 4 Boonsak Ponsana in the Thailand Grand Prix held in Bangkok in June of last year. Not only did Boonsak enjoy the home crowd advantage, he was also the top seed in the tournament, which is why Srikanth’s win would have definitely bolstered the young gun’s confidence.
He also took down two other big players in the Malaysia Open Super series Premier 2014 – Yun Hu (World No. 10) of Hong Kong and Wan Ho Son (World No. 13) of South Korea – before bowing out to the fourth seed, Tommy Sugiarto. His winning streak might have ended a bit abruptly but defeating the two biggies just goes to show his immense calibre and mental strength.
Undoubtedly, Srikanth has it in him to someday become a great player, perhaps comparable to the likes of Prakash Padukone. But he needs to up his game a bit, work on his agility on the court and better his defensive tactics. Winning a Grand Prix or two this year will also give him the edge.
You might get noticed overnight for a stupendous display of skill and a row of wins over the world’s top players and also for beating out the locals to hold the rank of India’s premier player. But it is quite tough to break into the top 5 rankings of the world, given the intense level of competition and dominance of the South East Asians that prevails. So Srikanth really has to buck up and try his level best if he wants to be considered as one of the greats of Indian badminton.
