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.”
