Famous Indian Badminton Players

P. V. Sindhu is an Indian badminton player. In 2016, she won the Olympic silver medal in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Indian woman to receive an Olympic silver. Sindhu became a national icon following her performance in the 2016 Olympics. In January 2020, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award.

Arjuna Award- and Padma Shri-winning Indian badminton player and former world number 1, Prakash Padukone was the first to win the All-England Open Badminton Championship from India. A World Cup and Commonwealth Games champion, he co-owns Olympic Gold Quest. He is also known as Bollywood star Deepika Padukone’s father.

The second Indian badminton player to win the All-England Open Badminton Championships, Indian badminton star Pullela Gopichand now coaches the Indian national team. He was 11 when he began playing the sport. An Asian Championship bronze winner, he has been awarded countless honors, such as the Arjuna Award and the Padma Bhushan.

A 2-time Olympian, Indian badminton star Jwala Gutta was born to a Chinese mother and an Indian father and began training under Padma Shri-winning coach S. M. Arif at age 6. She is an 8-time South Asian Games gold medalist and a Commonwealth Games gold medal winner.

A former world no.1, Saina Nehwal holds the feat of being the only Indian female player and overall the second Indian player to achieve this ranking. She is the first Indian female to have bagged in an Olympic medal in badminton. She was also awarded India's third highest civillian award, the Padma Bhushan.

Known for her match-winning partnership with Jwala Gutta, Indian badminton player Ashwini Ponnappa was born to a hockey player father but chose badminton over hockey. A 2-time Commonwealth Games and a 4-time South Asian Games champion, she is also a former World Championship bronze winner.

A product of Pullela Gopichand’s badminton academy, Indian badminton player Srikanth Kidambi is a former world number 1 and a Padma Shri and Arjuna Award winner. The first Indian player to make it to the World Championship men’s singles final, he is also a former Commonwealth Games and South Asian Games champion.

A former world number 6, Indian badminton player Parupalli Kashyap is not just a Commonwealth gold medalist but has also been awarded the Arjuna Award. In 2012, he became the first Indian to enter the men’s singles quarterfinals at the Olympics. He is also badminton ace Saina Nehwal’s husband.

Initially a top-ranked badminton player who played in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Sudheer Babu later stepped into films. Predominantly seen in Telugu films, he soared to fame with movies such as Prema Katha Chitram and Samanthakamani. He is also known as the brother-in-law of Telugu movie star Mahesh Babu.

Arjuna Award-winning Indian para-badminton player Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj is not just a Paralympic Games silver medalist but is also an IAS officer, the first-ever to win a Paralympic medal, who works as a District Magistrate. The current world number 2 in men’s singles, he has also won an Asian Para Games bronze medal.

Indian badminton player Syed Modi was not just an 8-time back-to-back national champion, but had also won a Commonwealth Games gold, along with 3 Asian Games bronze medals and an Asian Championship silver. He was 26 when he was shot dead while coming out of a stadium after practice.

B. Sai Praneeth scripted history as the first Indian badminton player in 36 years, after Prakash Padukone, to win a BWF World Championships medal. The Arjuna Award winner is also a former South Asian Games champion and a former world number 10 in men’s singles.

Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen, who has been a Youth Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, is also a former Asian Junior Champion. The son of a coach, Sen has had a meteoric rise in the sport and is a former world junior no. 1.

Arjuna Award-winning Indian badminton player Chetan Anand is not just a 4-time National Champion but has also been a world number 10 in men’s singles in the past. He is also a 6-time South Asian Games gold medalist. He was previously married to badminton star Jwala Gutta.

The president of the Delhi Capital Badminton Association, Ameeta Singh is a former national badminton champion player who later stepped into politics. An MP from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, she represented the INC before joining the BJP. She is also the former wife of murdered badminton ace Syed Modi.

Initially a software engineer, Indian para-badminton player Manasi Girishchandra Joshi lost one of her legs in a road accident. A BWF Para-Badminton World Championship gold medalist, she is a product of badminton ace Pullela Gopichand’s academy. She became the first Indian athlete to make it to the cover of TIME magazine.

Indian para-badminton player Pramod Bhagat is not just a Paralympic gold medalist but also a 5-time World Champion. A former world number 1 in men single's SL3, Bhagat was 15 when he played his first tournament against normal players. He has also received the Arjuna Award, the Khel Ratna, and the Padma Shri.

Indian badminton player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy is best known for his match-winning partnership with fellow badminton player Chirag Shetty. The son of a state-level badminton player, he was trained at Pullela Gopichand’s academy. He has a Thomas Cup and 2 Commonwealth Games gold medals in his kitty.

The daughter of Indian badminton legend Pullela Gopichand and his former badminton national champion wife, P. V. V. Lakshmi, Gayatri Gopichand has been a South Asian Games team champion. She also became the first female doubles player to enter the All-England Open semi-finals. She also has a Commonwealth Games silver in her kitty.

Indian badminton player Chirag Shetty, along with his partner, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, became the first Indian doubles pair to score a BWF Superseries/BWF World Tour, and reached a career-high ranking of 7 in doubles. He is also a 2-time Commonwealth Games champion and a Thomas Cup gold medalist.

Arjuna Award-winning former Indian badminton player Aparna Popat matched Prakash Padukone's record of 9 consecutive national singles title wins. Trained by Padukone, she later also went on to win a Commonwealth Games and a World Junior Championship silver. After retiring due to an injury, she took to coaching.

Prannoy Kumar, better known as H. S. Prannoy, is a promising Indian badminton player, with a career-high ranking of 8. He soared to fame with his Youth Olympic Games silver win in 2010. A Thomas Cup and Commonwealth Games champion, he also has a South Asian Games gold medal in his kitty.

Retired Indian badminton player P. V. V. Lakshmi is a former 8-time national badminton champion and the wife of badminton legend Pullela Gopichand. A Commonwealth Games bronze winner, she is also a former Olympian and the mother of badminton player Gayathri Gopichand. She now assists her husband with his badminton academy.

Retired Indian badminton player Ajay Jayaram has been an Asia Team Championship bronze winner. A Czech International and Dutch Open champion, he is also a talented painter. He has also played for Mumbai Rockets in the Premier Badminton League. Post-retirement, he focused on completing his MBA from ISB Hyderabad.

A product of Pullela Gopichand’s academy, Indian badminton player Sameer Verma is also the brother of former national badminton champion Sourabh Varma. The Eklavya Award and Vikram Award winner has also been an Asian Junior Championship silver medalist. In 2021, he scored a stunning win over world no. 3 Anders Antonsen.

Indian badminton player N. Sikki Reddy is not just a former Commonwealth Games champion but also a 3-time South Asian Games champion. Known for her successful mixed-doubles partnership with Pranaav Chopra, she is also an Arjuna Award recipient. She is married to badminton player B. Sumeeth Reddy.

A product of Pullela Gopichand’s badminton academy, Indian badminton player Gadde Ruthvika Shivani stunned everyone when she defeated P. V. Sindhu at the 2016 South Asian Games to win the women’s singles gold. She also has an Uber Cup bronze and a Commonwealth Games gold in her kitty.

Legendary Indian badminton coach U. Vimal Kumar co-founded badminton star Prakash Padukone’s badminton academy. The Dronacharya Award winner is a former player who has won an Asian Games bronze. He has also coached the Indian national team and has worked as Saina Nehwal’s coach too.

The son of former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in India, Akhilesh Das was not just a qualified lawyer but also boasted of a PhD in management. A talented badminton player, he had also headed the Badminton Association of India. He had also represented the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Known as India’s first superstar of badminton, Nandu M. Natekar was a 6-time national singles and doubles champion and also had 5 mixed doubles championship wins. With his title win at the 1956 Selangor Championship in Malaysia, the Arjuna Award recipient became the first Indian badminton player to win a title abroad.

Initially trained by his father, Indian badminton player Sourabh Verma later went on to win 3 National Championships. While he now trains under badminton legend Pullela Gopichand, he has secured major wins such as the Russian Open, the Dutch Open, and the Bahrain International. He has also represented India at the Asian Games.

Retired Indian deaf badminton player Sonu Anand Sharma was part of the gold-medal-winning Indian team at the 1997 Deaflympics. The first deaf woman to be honored with the Nari Shakti award, she took to coaching post-retirement. She has also headed the Deaf Sports Association of Delhi as its Sports Director.

Indian badminton player Rituparna Das hails from the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. Best known for her women’s singles title wins at the India International Series and the Polish International in 2016, she also won a silver at the 2018 Belgian International. In 2018, she won her 2nd Polish International title.

Arjuna Award- and Padma Shri-winning retired Indian badminton player Madhumita Bisht is an 8-time national singles champion. She has also won the national doubles championship 9 times. An Olympian, she has won a bronze each in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, too.

Arjuna Award-winning Indian badminton player Kanwal Thakar Singh was 11 when she began playing the sport. With their bronze win at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, she and Ami Ghia became the first female Indian players to win a Commonwealth medal. She is also the sister of Bollywood actor Kirron Kher.

Indian badminton player B. Sumeeth Reddy is best known for his successful men’s doubles partnerships with Manu Attri and T. Hema Nagendra Babu. A 3-time South Asian Games gold medal winner, he has also won a Commonwealth Games bronze. He is married to Arjuna Award winner fellow badminton player N. Sikki Reddy.

Arjuna Award-winning Indian para-badminton player Parul Parmar has been a women's singles SL3 world number 1. The daughter of a state-level badminton player, she was diagnosed with polio at age 3. A 6-time World Championship gold medalist, she is also a 2-time Asian Para Games champion.

Indian badminton player Arundhati Pantawane is a National Games gold medal winner and is coached by badminton legend Pullela Gopichand. She has been part of the 2010 Asian Games and won the Bahrain International title in 2012. She is married to fellow badminton player Arun Vishnu.

Indian badminton player Manu Attri is best known for his success in men’s doubles and mixed doubles. Born to an athlete father, he was 10 when he began playing badminton. An Olympian, he has also been a 2-time South Asian Games gold medal winner and an Asia Team Championship bronze medal winner.

Arjuna Award-winning retired Indian badminton player Anup Sridhar has won a bronze each in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Championships. He stunned everyone when he defeated former world number 1, Taufik Hidayat, at the 2007 World Championships. He also participated at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Aditya Joshi scripted history when, at 17, he became the first Indian badminton player to be placed at number 1 in the world junior rankings. He was 5 when he began playing the sport. He later went on to win titles such as the India Junior International and the Ramenskoe Junior International.

Indian badminton player Subhankar Dey owns 2 badminton training centers, one in Mumbai and the other in Kolkata. After fleeing home due to lack of support, he trained in Mumbai and then joined the Greve Strands Badminton Club in Denmark. An Asia Team Championship bronze winner, he also won the 2018 SaarLorLux Open.

Indian badminton player Ashmita Chaliha was just 7 when she began playing badminton. Coached by the likes of Suranjan Bhobora and Pullela Gopichand, she later emerged as a 2-time gold medalist at the 2019 South Asian Games. She also won the Dubai International tournament in 2018.

Gaurav Khanna is not just the head coach of the Indian para-badminton team but is also the founder of India’s first para-badminton academy. The Dronacharya Award winner has previously also coached both the Indian and Asian deaf badminton teams. He also coached the Indian para-badminton team that played at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Valiyaveetil Diju teamed up with Jwala Gutta to script history as the first Indian mixed-doubles pair to compete at the Olympics. A 6-time National Champion, he also has 5 South Asian Games gold medals in his kitty. The Arjuna Award recipient also won India’s first mixed-doubles Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold titles.

Apart from being part of the gold-winning Indian women’s teams at the 2004, 2006, and 2010 South Asian Games, Indian badminton player Aparna Balan has also won a doubles gold at the Games. She is also a 6-time National Champion in mixed doubles and a 3-time champion in women’s doubles.

A 2-time Olympian, Indian badminton player Dipankar Bhattacharjee was 5 when he began playing the sport. Trained by many eminent coaches, such as Prakash Padukone, he later became a 3-time National Champion. An Arjuna Award nominee, he later launched his own coaching academy. He is also a brain tumor survivor.

Pranav Chopra, along with Sikki Reddy, scripted history as the second Indian badminton player mixed-doubles pair to reach the top 15 in world rankings, when they were placed at number 13. He is not just a Commonwealth Games mixed team champion but also a 2-time South Asian Games champion.

Indian badminton player P. C. Thulasi was part of the Indian women’s teams that won the South Asian Games in 2010 and 2016. She has also won 2 bronze medals at the Uber Cup and one at the Asian Games. A former national champion, she also won a gold at the 34th National Games.

Though Indian badminton player Arvind Bhat had begun playing the sport at age 11, he had almost quit it while pursuing his engineering degree. A former National Champion, he has also represented India in the Asian Games. Post-retirement, he has turned to coaching and now co-owns his own badminton academy.