There’s no doubt that Indian badminton is on the way up with the future looking extremely bright. Globally, there is a sort of decline in the Chinese hegemony over badminton. The opportunity is all the more ripe for that reason as India should aspire to become world leaders in at least one sport, and badminton provides just that opportunity. Indian badminton in coming years will not be about Saina or PV alone as there are many youngsters waiting to deliver on their promising starts. So here are the Five EMERGING players that Indian Badminton will pin its hopes on in the future.
(1) Lakshya Sen
The 16-year-old created history in last February after he became the number one junior singles badminton player in the world in the latest rankings of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The young Sen has had a brilliant year on the badminton circuit in 2016. Being in the final of senior national Badminton championship is itself a great achievement at such a young age ! And he won the Senior India International Series Badminton Tournament along with the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament at Itanagar. He was youngest ever player and the first ever from Uttarakhand to win the title at senior level.
ALSO READ : Pankaj Advani gives a scathing opinion of India’s sports policy
The legendary Prakash Padukone also had seen a lot of promise in Lakshya and has been giving him personal attention over the last couple of years.
So I see him as a great future star of Indian badminton.
(2) Sameer Verma
Verma is known for his wristy play at the net and has solid retrieval skills. He was born in Madhya Pradesh and has been training in the Gopichand Badminton Academy since 2010.
Last November, Sameer became the first Indian man in 24 years to enter the finals of the Hong Kong Super Series after defeating third-seeded Jan O Jorgensen 21-19, 24-22.
Legendary Prakash Padukone was the last Indian man to make the finals in Hong Kong. Verma is only the second Indian man to make the finals of a Super Series event.
He won silver at the Asian Junior Badminton Championships and the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2011.His first international title came in 2013 when he won the men’s singles event at the Bahrain International Series. He won the TATA Open and Bangladesh Open in 2015.He also won the senior national championships last year.
His elder brother Sourabh Verma is also a badminton player. We will discuss about Sourabh later.
(3) Ruthvika Shivani
Last year on the 19th of May, India was struggling against Thailand in the Uber cup quarter final in front of Chinese audience at Kunshan sports complex in China
The day started off on a disappointing note for us as Saina Nehwal could not give the ideal start everyone had hoped for. Ratchanok Intanon quite convincingly beat Saina 21-12, 21-19 and gave Thailand a 1-0 lead.
It was the turn of PV Sindhu to bring India back into the game and she didn’t disappoint as the Hyderabadi scalped Busnan Ongbumrungphan 21-18, 21-7 to make it 1-1 in the five-match encounter.(Which is also very common now)
After India’s most experienced doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta made it 2-1 for India, it was time for the 19-year-old Ruthvika Shivani to take the centre stage.
What happened next was unimaginable. In a high-octane match played at the Kunshan Sports Complex, Ruthvika played some punishing rallies and eventually closed out the game in two sets to register a 21-18, 21-16 victory !!
Shivani joined Gopichand academy in 2012 and she used to train at Khammam in Telengana before. She is the next big thing for Indian badminton, and has been making rapid strides in the circuit.
In an interview with TOI, she said, “My father was fond of badminton and would often go playing with his friends. I started to tag along with him and he noticed that I took to the sport with keen interest”
With more opportunities coming her way, Ruthvika Shiva Gadde has the potential to emerge as the next superstar.
(4) Saurabh Varma
Saurabh Varma became the Indian National Badminton champion at the age of 19 and also won his first international title that year when he won at the Bahrain International Challenge. He further continued his good form that year, by reaching the final of the Syed Modi Grand Prix where he lost to Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
ALSO READ : Abhinav Bindra expresses disappointment over Indian shooters being detained at the airport
Sourabh then won 2013 Tata International Challenge in Mumbai in which he defeated Prannoy Kumar in the final and had a great time in 2014 as well, winning two titles- the Iran Fajr International Challenge as well the Austrian International Challenge where he beat Taiwan’s Hsu Jen-hao. He also won the silver at the 2014 Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold .
Sourabh can certainly be considered as someone on whom we can pin our hopes for the future.
(5) Meet Satwik
17 years old teenager Satwik from Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh yet has officially gained tremendous glory for India in his most fascinating field.
According to the Indian express, his talent was first recognized by APBA vice principle Dr. Metla Suryanarayana, who encouraged Satwik to play district level and state level tournaments. Later he was trained from former national champion Sadhanala Vasu and Bhaskar Babu, who is an SIS senior coach
After winning several medals for Doubles and mixed Double tournaments, in 2011 he got an invitation to join in Gopichand’s Academy which changed his life.! Later he grabbed all the opportunities he could to show his interest on the sport and win medals both national and international.
Meet’s achievements are extraordinary ! He won Bronze Medal in Badminton Asia Championship 2016, won Gold Medal in Badminton Asia Championship in 2015, again Gold Medal in Canada Open last year and Bronze Medal in Polish International tournament
The 17 year old kid who showed his interest in badminton and started his career under the guidance of his father, has turned out to be an aspiring Badminton champion now. We can expect Satwik to make India proud at international level as a future superstar of this game.
