Kidambi Srikanth has established himself as one of the biggest talents from Indian badminton who can consistently challenge the top stars on the international stage. In his short career, the 23-year-old already has titles at the Superseries and the Grand Prix Gold levels.
His stupendous efforts over the last couple of years have seen him take a massive leap from his 338th ranking at the start of 2012 to a top-5 place in 2015.
Here are 10 things to know about the achievements of World No. 10 Kidambi Srikanth, who is very likely to clinch a Rio Olympic berth when the qualifying period gets over:
1. Srikanth Nammalwar Kidambi, who hails from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, was born on 7 February 1993 to farmer KVS Krishna and his wife Radha, who is a homemaker. Srikanth’s elder brother Nanda Gopal is a doubles exponent, currently ranked 102nd in men’s doubles.
2. Srikanth started out as a doubles player but switched to singles on the advice of Pullela Gopichand, who spotted his singles skills at the 2011 India Junior International Badminton Championship where the fledgling talent took the double crown.
That same year he also had success at the Commonwealth Youth Games where he grabbed the silver and bronze in mixed doubles and men’s doubles respectively.
3. At the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad where he had joined in 2009, Srikanth soon started flourishing in singles under Gopichand’s tutelage. His first international title followed immediately afterwards. At the 2012 Maldives International Challenge, he toppled the then Junior World Champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the final.
4. Srikanth established himself as a contender for the bigger titles when he triumphed at the SCG Thailand Open just a year later to capture his maiden trophy at the Grand Prix Gold level.
He put up an immaculate display in the summit clash to upset the then World No. 8 Boonsak Ponsana in straight games. He carried his form to the All India Senior National Championships and beat the defending champion Parupalli Kashyap for the title.
5. 2014 was the year that brought Srikanth into the limelight. At the Haixia Olympic Sport Centre in Fuzhou, the-then 21-year-old exhibited all his skills and fearlessness by toppling the two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan 21-19, 21-17 to take the China Open Superseries Premier title.
It was an astonishing success as very few foresaw the Indian emerging triumphant in this David vs Goliath encounter, let alone in straight games.
The win was definitely one of the proudest moments for Indian badminton as it was the very first time that any Indian had won a Superseries Premier title in Men’s Singles. Srikanth considers it the most memorable sporting achievement of his career.
About that glorious moment, the Guntur-born shuttler has said: “I had grown up thinking of Lin Dan as my idol. So to win my first Super Series title by beating him in China was great feeling.”
6. That sparked off a string of big results that included reaching the semi-finals of the BWF World Superseries Finals and the final of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and all those helped him to break into the top 5 of the world rankings. In March, he had his second Grand Prix Gold level triumph at the Swiss Open.
7. The ever-improving, diligent shuttler had one of his best achievements in front of his adoring home fans just a few days later. The Gopichand protégé delighted the Siri Fort Stadium in Delhi with his comeback 18-21, 21-13, 21-12 win over Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen as he grabbed his maiden India Open Superseries trophy.
8. The next few months presented a challenging situation for the young player as he failed to replicate his successful results. Despite his struggles, he soared even higher in the world rankings and achieved his career-best position of 3rd in June.
9. Towards the end of the 2015 season, Srikanth started showing signs of the player that he was in the initial part of the year as he made the final of the Indonesian Masters. He underlined it further with a confident performance to clinch the Syed Modi International title in January 2016.
With a 21-13, 14-21, 21-14 victory over Huang Yuxiang, he emerged third time lucky after losing in the final for the last two years.
10. His most recent accomplishment is leading the Indian men’s team to a bronze medal at the 2016 Badminton Asia Team Championships held at home in Hyderabad in February. It was India’s first medal in this event after three decades. Srikanth made an invaluable contribution to it as he remained unbeaten in all his four matches.
Other things you should know about Kidambi Srikanth:
1. Srikanth became a mentally stronger and a braver person after overcoming a bout of meningitis that left him confined to the hospital bed for over a week in July 2014.
“The illness changed me. I became more passionate than ever. I started training a lot harder,” he has said about it.
2. He is supported by the donor-funded, not-for-profit GoSports Foundation since 2012.
3. The prestigious Arjuna Award was conferred on him in 2015.
4. He played for the Bengaluru Top Guns in the Premier Badminton League this year where he upset the former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei – his first ever win over the Malaysian in any kind of format.
5. Srikanth considers his coach Gopichand and the legendary Lin Dan as his two idols.
6. At the age of eight in 2001, Srikanth and his elder brother Nanda Gopal met Pullela Gopichand at a felicitation ceremony near their home after Gopi's incredible All England triumph. It was the champion's mother Subbaravamma who instilled a passion for badminton in the young boys when she told them, “You have to become like Gopi one day.”
