Commonwealth Games: Recap of Indian Badminton

21st Commonwealth Games is around the corner which unite athletes around the world. Having been initiated in 1930, Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event which involves athletes from around the globe in all disciplines taking place for every four years since then.

What about Indian badminton at CWG?

Badminton debuted Commonwealth Games in 1966, hosted in Kingston, Jamaica.

Indian Badminton legend Prakash Padukone pocketed the first medal for the country in 1978, the 11th version of the Games, followed by winning the same title by Syed Modi in 1982.

After two and half score years in 2010, Saina Nehwal lifted the first ever trophy at New Delhi in the women’s singles individual category, and women’s doubles title by Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa in the same year.

In 2014, Parupalli Kashyap was the first person to win the title after defeating Derek Wong of Singapore in the men’s singles category, after Syed Modi. In the semi-finals round, Kashyap defeated Rajiv Ouseph of England, to avenge his loss in the 2010 CWG semifinals in the mixed team event and stood at the podium with bronze after defeating the compatriot Chetan Buradagunta.

India has total of 5 gold, 4 silver and 10 bronze medals in the cabin.

How is the Indian powerhouse at 2018 CWG?

Perhaps, this season’s Commonwealth Games is going to be more challenging, as highly successful Kidambi Srikanth, Olympic queens Sindhu and Saina are the spearheads of the Indian badminton team. The mixed team event will be held at Gold Coast, Australia from April 5.

World No. 3 PV Sindhu, is the first non-shooter to be the CWG 2018 flagbearer in five seasons. Previously, it was Jaspal Rana in 1998, Anjali Bhagwat in 2002, Rajyavardhan Rathore in 2006, Abhinav Bhindra in 2010, and Vijay Kumar in 2014 who stood as the flagbearers at the Commonwealth Games.

While, World No. 12 HS Prannoy will be joining his compatriot Srikanth in the singles contest. In the women’s singles event, Sindhu and Saina will switch roles as the team challenges for the title.

The duo, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, whose chemistry has been working well, will be seen as the debutants at the tournament, while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will play together in the mixed doubles event.

In the women’s doubles category, Ashwini Ponnappa will partner with N Sikki Reddy to continue their impressive strides.

India has been drawn in Group A against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Scotland. After the winning teams from the respective groups is finalised on April 9, all players will be playing their individual games from April 10 and will be seen at the podium on April 14 and 15.

Indian contingent:

Men:

Kidambi Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy, Chirag Shetty, Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra.

Women:

P.V. Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Ashwini Ponappa, Sikki Reddy and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde.

Team Draws:

Group A: India, Scotland, Pakistan, Sri Lanka;

Group B: Singapore, Mauritius, Zambia, Jamaica;

Group C: England, Australia, South Africa, Uganda;

Group D: Malaysia, Canada, Seychelles, Ghana