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Over the last few years, there has been a sudden change in the world badminton graph. While the Chinese domination has been on the decline, the meteoric rise of Indian shuttlers, which has left a mark in every major event, including the Olympics and the World Championships, has been evident.
The 2017 World Championship saw India record their best ever result, with two medals from this edition. And it was none other than the golden girls PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, who not only gave badminton fans multiple moments to cheer about but won the silver and the bronze, respectively as well.
Sindhu’s silver was extraordinary in the way she fought back and was unbreakable against a resolute Nozomi Okuhara until the last few points made the difference.
She was up against another Japanese shuttler in the form of Akane Yamaguchi in the final of the Dubai World Superseries finals, where she lost out in yet another humdinger that went right down to the wire.
Her two silver medals at the age of 22 speak volume of the youngster’s achievement that is highlighted by so many records.
Here we look into some of the records of the young champion.
# 1 First Indian to win three World Championships medals
The 2017 World Championship will stay in the memories of badminton aficionados owing to Sindhu’s and Nehwal’s show. With two medals for the first time in its tally, India now has seven medals at the Worlds and has managed to win at least one medal since the 2011 edition of the flagship event.
The women’s doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the bronze in 2011, a feat that ended the country’s 28-year wait for a medal at the world stage after Prakash Padukone's bronze in 1983.
Among the Indian medallists, Sindhu stands atop with three medals, one bronze each in 2013 and 2014 editions respectively, followed by this time’s silver after her heartbreaking loss to Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in a three-game thriller. Her silver came after Nehwal finished second as well in the 2015 World Championship.
In fact, Sindhu's bronze at the Worlds 2013 was India’s first in women’s singles, a feat which the then-teenager repeated in the next edition as well.
#2 Sindhu’s unbeaten record against Chinese at World Championships
Besides her indomitable spirit, what stood out for Sindhu in all these editions of World Championship is her unbeaten record against the Chinese. It seems Sindhu is all charged up when she faces a Chinese on the opposite side of the net and her all-win record, six out of six times, clearly speaks of her fearlessness against them.
In the 2013 World Championship, an 18-year-old Sindhu shocked the second seed Wang Yihan in the third round and then outplayed the seventh seed Wang Shixian in the quarter-finals to book her maiden Worlds medal. Interestingly, the Indian ousted both the former World No. 1s in straight games in the 2013 edition.
If anyone thought these were one-off results, Sindhu returned to end Shixian’s campaign yet again in 2014.
In 2015, she returned empty-handed from the competition but only after ousting reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui, thus maintaining her record. And this year, Sindhu showed even more determination and confidence in her thrashing of fifth seed Sun Yu 21-14, 21-9 in the quarter-finals and the ninth-seeded Chen Yufei 21-13, 21-10 in the semi-finals.
#3 Played the longest women’s singles final in history of World Championship
Long energy-sapping rallies were the highlight of the Sindhu vs Okuhara women’s singles final, that lasted for 110 minutes. This also meant that the players played the longest women’s singles match in the history of the tournament, and second longest ever in women’s singles.
The match was definitely a cracker and the players etched their names in the World championships' history books. The resolution both these players showed in the three-game final, they would be an inspiration for the new crop of players in terms of stamina and tactics. The epic clash was also a perfect advertisement of the rise in level of women's badminton.
#4 First Indian to reach Olympics and World Championship final
The women power was evident at the 2016 Rio Olympics and thanks to their splendid efforts, India didn't return home empty-handed. Wrestler Sakshi Malik made the breakthrough for India, winning a bronze in the repechage round before Sindhu ensured a silver entering the final of the women’s singles in Rio.
Nehwal's early exit from the Games shifted the focus to Sindhu and the 21-year-old youngster didn’t disappoint. She mesmerized her fans with splendid performances the biggest of names in the sport such as Tai Tzu Ying, Wang Yihan and Nozomi Okuhara en route to the final.
However, she was stopped by the two-time world champion Carolina Marin, who needed three games to prevail over the Indian, in the summit clash. In Rio, she also became the fifth Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.
One year on, and Sindhu has only grown in her stature as she made it to her first ever World Championships final with a convincing 21-13, 21-10 win over reigning world junior champion Yufei.
#5 Third Indian shuttler to win the China Open
The Rio Olympics performance was still fresh on the minds of badminton fans when Sindhu etched her name into history books by becoming the third Indian shuttler to clinch the prestigious China Open Super Series Premier title last November.
Sindhu edged local favourite Sun Yu in her own den 21-11, 17-21, 21-11 for her maiden Super Series title. Sindhu repeated Nehwal and K. Srikanth’s feat of 2014 when they lifted the women’s and men’s singles titles respectively.
She was also only the third non-Chinese player to win the women's singles event in 30 years.
