Parupalli Kashyap

Parupalli Kashyap is an Indian badminton player who was born on 8 September 1986 at Hyderabad in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He is a right-handed shuttler who has a high command over his powerful smash shots on the court. He is the first Indian male to have reached the Quarterfinals in an Olympic badminton event.

Background

Parupalli Kashyap frequently changed his residence due to his father's transferable job. He used to play badminton as a recreational sport and became quite good at it over the time. Hence, at the age of 11, his parents enrolled him at a training camp in Hyderabad which was organised by S.M. Arif. It was this training camp where Parupalli started his professional badminton training.

During his training at the Padukone Academy, Bangalore in the early years of 2000, he faced a terrible ailment of asthma. This could have ended his career then and there but Parupalli returned to Hyderabad and trained under a former badminton star, Pullela Gopichand. He revived his career and now plays with a Therapeutic Use Exemption certificate from the World Anti-doping Agency.

Rise to Glory

Parupalli made his first major impact in the Indian badminton when he won a Gold medal in the Boys Singles event of the 2005 National Junior Open Badminton Championship.

In the year 2006, Parupalli reached the semifinals of the Bitburger Open after defeating the then number 19 player, Przemysław Wacha. This was his first big victory on the international stage. A similar victory occurred for him at the 33rd National Games where Parupalli defeated the then National champion of India – Chetan Anand to grab the Gold medal.

Parupalli kept himself associated with Gopichand and he led him to play a number of finals and semifinals in 2007. Keeping that momentum alive, Kashyap also won Bronze medals at the 2008 Dutch Open and 2009 Senior National Badminton Championships.

Parupalli Kashyap won the bronze medal for India at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which was his first Commonwealth medal ever. He also won the Silver medal in the Mixed Team event of the 2010 CWG. He repeated a similar performance later on in the 2010 India Grand Prix as well.

In 2012, Parupalli had his first major tournament win after facing an elimination close to the Gold at various events. He won the Gold Medal at the 2012 Sir Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold. His second international Gold Medal came at the 2014 Glasgow Asian Games where he showed his best skills.

In 2015, he won the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship which was one of his remarkable achievements. His latest tournament victory is the Gold Medal in the 2018 Australian Badminton Open.

Low Points

Parupalli Kashyap suffered a major setback when his dream of winning a medal at the 2016 Olympics due to a surgery in his right knee just before the Olympics. He recovered fast but again dislocated his shoulder during a match at the Premier Badminton League in 2017. It is since then that Kashyap has reduced his frequency in tournaments.

Awards

Parupalli Kashyap has received the Arjuna Award for Badminton in 2012 for reaching the Quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympics.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

BWF World Tour

BWF Grand Prix

BWF International Challenge