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For any parent, both their sons playing in the final of a major tournament is an extremely satisfying moment. Brothers facing each other to battle it out on a big occasion will make any parent proud.
Sudhir Verma experienced that unique moment when his sons Sameer and Sourabh were pitted against each other in the Senior National Badminton Championship in Chandigarh in 2016.
In a battle of brothers, younger brother Sameer Verma beat his older sibling Sourabh to win his maiden men’s singles title in the Senior National Badminton Championship.
In these situations, the result doesn’t really matter for the parents. It is more about enjoying the occasion for them.
Older brother Sourabh loses to Sameer in Tata Open final
A year earlier, in 2015 in Mumbai, younger brother Sameer got the better of older brother Sourabh in the Tata India International final in straight games.
In addition to the Verma brothers, there are four other pairs of siblings who are actively playing on the badminton circuit. Meetings in tournaments across the net have become regular for them. Off the court they might be brothers but on the court they are rivals.
Like the Vermas, parents of the other four brothers must have also experienced similar feelings when their sons faced each other in the state, national and international tournaments.
Lakshya Sen-Chirag Sen, Kidambi Srikanth-Kidambi Nandagopal, Aditya Joshi-Pratul Joshi and Aman Raikwar-Yash Raikwar live their passion together.
At the Senior National Badminton Championship in Srinagar in 2012, Kidambi Srikanth and Kidambi Nandagopal set a unique record when they reached the men’s singles semi-finals. Although they could not reach the final, they became the first pair of brothers after Ghosh brothers -- Dipu and Raman -- to make the last four stages in the Senior Nationals.
Kidambi brothers’ record was bettered by the Verma brothers four years later when they reached the final. Sameer defeated two-time national champion Sourabh in the first final between the two brothers after the Ghosh brothers.
Lakshya Sen, Chirag Sen, Pratul Joshi and Aditya Joshi also played several times against each other at state and national level tournaments. Raikwar brothers from Madhya Pradesh also excelled at the national-level and went on to represent the Indian junior team.
5. Yash Raikwar and Aman Raikwar (Madhya Pradesh)
Nineteen-year-old Yash Raikwar represented the Indian team in the World Junior Championship which was held in Russia in 2019. He also competed at the Korea Junior Open International Challenge in 2019.
Yash Raikwar and Iman Sonowal beat Korean players in the men’s doubles first round before losing to another Korean duo in the second round. He has been playing for the national team for the last few years.
Aman Raikwar is a year older than Yash. Aman also played international badminton at the junior level. Both Raikwar brothers have been excelling at state and national level tournaments since 2005. In the West Zone Inter-State Championship at Bilaspur in October 2018, Raiwar brothers guided Madhya Pradesh to the final before they lost against Maharashtra.
4. Aditya Joshi and Pratul Joshi (Madhya Pradesh)
The Joshi brothers belong to Dhar, near Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Aditya Joshi was the first male Indian junior badminton player who achieved the World No. 1 ranking in the Under-19 junior set-up in 2014.
24-year-old Aditya was the national junior champion and represented the Indian team at the Youth Olympic Games and BWF World Junior Championships in 2014. Aditya Joshi was the junior national champion in 2013 and had won two gold medals in Indian junior international tournaments.
In 2012, he participated in the Indian Grand Prix Gold. During the same year, he won a gold medal in the Asian Sub-Juniors held in Japan.
Pratul is two years older than Aditya and plays left-handed. Pratul was World No. 63 in 2016 when he was at the peak of his form. He has played regularly in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) and represented the Mumbai Rockets team in 2018.
Pratul won the Bahrain International title in 2016 beating his younger brother Aditya 21-17, 12-21, 21-15. In the same tournament in 2015, he finished runner-up after losing the final against Sameer Verma in three games. He also represented the junior Indian squad at the Asian Badminton Championship in 2011 in Lucknow, where the hosts bagged bronze medals in the team championships.
3. Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma (Madhya Pradesh)
The Verma brothers, who also hail from Dhar, have been training at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad for the last decade.
Sameer Verma is currently the World No. 27. The 26-year-old Sameer reached his career-best world ranking of 11 in January 2019. He has 181 career wins to his credit at international level. Sameer has been a regular member of the Indian team for the last six years.
Sameer won the bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in 2011 in Taipei. At the Asian Junior Championships, Sameer claimed silver at Lucknow in 2011 and bronze at Gimcheon in 2012. He won nine major titles, including the Swiss Open in 2018.
Sourabh, 28, is a three-time men’s singles national champion. Sourabh reached a career-high world ranking of No. 28 in December 2019. He has 203 wins at the world level. Sourabh won 4 BWF World Tour titles, including the Russian Open and Dutch Open.
2. Lakshya Sen and Chirag Sen (Uttarakhand)
Nineteen-year-old Lakshya Sen is the fastest rising shuttler in the world. In a short span of time the teenager has climbed to a world ranking of 23. Guided by his father, DK Sen, who is also the Indian coach, both Lakshya and Chirag have been performing brilliantly at national and international level for the last six years.
22-year-old Chirag is World No. 101 and has been playing on the international circuit for several years. Chirag is equally good in doubles. He also trains at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru with his younger brother Lakshya.
1. Kidambi Srikanth and Kidambi Nandagopal (Andhra Pradesh)
The Kidambi brothers hail from Guntur. Both Srikanth and Nandagopal have been training at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad for the last 12 years. Srikanth went on to become World No. 1 in April, 2018, the first Indian male player to do so. Twenty-eight-year-old Srikanth has won 10 world titles including six Super Series titles.
Despite a current world ranking of 14, Srikanth missed his berth for the Tokyo Olympics. He had reached the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Srikanth upset World No. 5 Jan O Jorgensen 21–19, 21–19 to reach the quarterfinals at the Rio Olympics. However, Chinese legend Lin Dan edged out Srikanth in three games.
Srikanth was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award in 2018 and Arjuna Award in 2015.
Nandagopal, fondly known as Nandu, is a year older than Srikanth. Although he was talented, he failed to reach the heights of his younger sibling. After doing well in the singles early in his career, Nandagopal shifted to doubles. He had reached a career best world ranking of 78 in the men’s doubles (2016) and 97 in the mixed doubles (2018). He won three international titles in the men’s doubles and two in the mixed doubles.
