Ranking the greatest achievements by Indian shuttlers in the history of the game

4. Pullela Gopichand – Winner 2001 All England Championships

After Prakash Padukone became the first player from India to win the All England Championships in 1980, the country’s wait for a second title was finally fulfilled when in the summer of 2001, Pullela Gopichand lifted the title.

The Indian defeated World No.12 Chen hong in the final 15-12 15-6 to provide Indian badminton with a much-needed boost after a disappointing Olympics in Sydney, the previous year.

The win was certainly a hard earned one for Gopichand, who had to beat a whole host of stars, including Denmark’s Peter Gade in the semifinals, en route to the triumph at Birmingham.

In terms of the significance of the performance, it surely ranks high, considering the lack of depth in Indian badminton at the time as far as Singles was concerned and for Gopichand, it was the culmination of years of toil before the fruit finally arrived.

Sadly,however, his success didn’t quite have the same impact on the upcoming players,for a long time and it took an Indian player another 14 years, to stand on the podium when Saina Nehwal won the silver medal in 2015.